


Roads That Cross...

by Cynthia_Fangirl



Category: Soy Luna (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, I didn't want to do this but I changed the rating to Explicit, I have to be honest with the public lol, Smut, basically more mature stuff than Disney was allowed to show, btw this actually has a plot it's not just smut in case you were wondering, this is turning into a S3 re-write tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:39:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynthia_Fangirl/pseuds/Cynthia_Fangirl
Summary: Living under the same roof turns out to be too much temptation. Having fallen into it, Simón will have to deal with what he had been fighting all along, while Ámbar will try her best to show him he shouldn't regret it. In between the aching past, the turbulent present and the unforeseeable future, both will soon realize that things are never as easy or clear as they wish they could be.





	1. ... At Midnight (Part 1)

After Nico's farewell party everyone had ended up exhausted. The guys had gone directly to bed and Simón had done so as well, but he couldn't sleep. First Gary had kicked them out of the loft, and even if the Valentes were as nice as to let them live there for a couple of days, they still needed to find another place to live and it worried him. Then Nico had chosen to go to New York with Ada, and even if he was happy for him, he was gonna miss him a lot. Also, that left the Roller Band with minus a bass player.

After like an hour of tossing and turning he decided to go down to the kitchen and serve himself some milk or something. He stood up and, as quietly as he could, he closed the door of his bedroom and went down the stairs in direction to the kitchen. As he came near he noticed the light was on, which caught his attention, and when he reached the door and looked inside he was even more surprised.

"Ámbar?"

The blonde, who had been checking one of the cupboards, turned around at hearing his voice.

"Simón. You scared me", she said as she moved a hand to her chest. Which was barely covered because her nightdress had a big cleavage that the robe hanging open from her shoulders didn't cover. Not like he noticed. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same", he retorted, since she had arrived there first.

She made a small shrug. "I couldn't sleep so I came here to grab something".

"Oh. Same here", he uttered, amazed by how in synch they were.

"Really?", asked Ámbar, apparently thinking the same thing. A coquettish smile appeared on her face. "Great then. Come on in. I'll serve us some tea".

She turned around to grab a tea box from one of the cupboards.

Simón scratched the back of his neck, unsure. "Uh... no", he cleared his throat, "No, I better go back to bed, it's late".

Ámbar spun around to face him. "Oh, come on. You just said you couldn't sleep and that's why you came here", she stated. At noticing his stance her eyes narrowed slightly, her smile defying "...Or are you afraid of me?"

He squared his shoulders. "No".  _Not exactly._

"Good. Then there's no problem", she said as she turned around to fill the kettle with water. "I mean, what could I possibly do?"

That was the problem, he thought. She didn't need to do anything at all, her sole presence was tempting. The robe she was wearing was very transparent, so much that he actually doubted it even protected her against the cold at all. He could distinguish every curve under the soft material of her nightdress, which did nothing to cover her long legs that seemed even softer to the touch...

_Stop staring!_

Simón cleared his throat again, wishing he could clear his mind just as easily, and stepped inside the kitchen. He leaned against one of the counters, the one further from her. Better to keep his distance, he thought.

This didn't go unnoticed by Ámbar after she left the kettle over the stove and saw him on the other side of the room.

"Really? You're gonna stand all the way over there?"

Fine, maybe he was overdoing it.

Deciding it was better to just act unaffected he moved closer, now leaning against the middle counter. Ámbar inched closer too, leaning her hip on the counter next to him as she looked at him.

"So. What kept you up?", she asked.

He shrugged. "Just some things".

She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to elaborate. He guessed there was no point in hiding it.

"I'm just sad about Nico. I mean, not sad. I'm happy for him, really, this is a huge opportunity for him. But after all this time we've been together he was starting to feel like a brother to me. I'm gonna miss him a lot".

She nodded, processing that. "I get it. He was never my friend but, it's going to be weird not seeing him around anymore. Must be very tough for you".

He sighed, downhearted. "Yeah. And there's also the issue of finding a new place to live. We can't just stay here forever, eventually we have to find another apartment or something we can afford".

"Well I, for one, would be more than happy to have you live here forever", she said, which made Simón laugh.

"Don't lie Ámbar. I'm sure you find it annoying to have so many people over".

"Yeah, but I wasn't talking about everyone, I was talking about  _you_ ".

The humor left him. Their eyes locked for some seconds before Simón averted his gaze, looking down to his hands instead. Ámbar used his silence to keep talking.

"You said earlier that you would've liked us living together under different circumstances. You never got to explain what you meant by that", she ventured as she moved a little closer.

"Yeah, because your boyfriend arrived", he noted out of impulse, and immediately regretted it because her eyes shined with interest, and something else, something dangerous.

"Is that one of the things you'd like to be different?", she questioned as her blue eyes looked directly into his. "Me not being with Benicio?"

Simón took a deep breath, trying not to show anything under her piercing stare. He stopped leaning against the counter and instead stood facing her frontwards. "Ámbar, you can date whoever you want. Really. But Benicio is... he's not good for you. He's a bad person, a bad influence, and you need to surround yourself with people that are a positive contribution to your life".

"Like you?", she guessed as she too moved right in front of him. Their eyes never left each other, he couldn't look away even if he tried. "...If we were together, would you be happier to be living under the same roof as me?"

"That'll never happen—"

"I said ' **if** '", she countered as she took one more step closer, leaving them standing face to face. "Let's fantasize a little, Simón. If we were here, in the middle of the night, without having to care about what anyone else would think... what would you do?"

She was speaking in a low sultry voice, and the look she was giving him made it hard to think, made it hard to form words.

"I...", Simón gulped. His voiced sounded like gravel and his heart was speeding inside his chest. "I wouldn't do anything. I just... would be here with you".

"Really?", she muttered as her face inched closer, and suddenly it was also hard to breath. "Because I can think of a few things. And I could bet by your face that you're thinking the same".

"Ámbar...", he all but whimpered.

"Yes, Simón?", she breathed, just a few centimeters away from his lips, and that's when his willpower broke.

His eyes fell close as he leaned the rest of the way, molding her lips against his own. It had been so long,  _too_  long since he last kissed her, but it felt just as good as the first time, maybe even more. His hands automatically came up to drown in her hair and pull her closer, stamping her mouth against his because he had been dying to do this for months.

Ámbar kissed him back with fervor as her hands grabbed handfuls of his hair, using the hold to angle his head better. It wasn't long before she dragged her tongue over his lower lip, slowly, making him groan. He opened his mouth so their tongues could find each other and the moment they touched and started tangling together it was like his whole body set aflame. He had to suppress a moan from how warm and wet it felt, her taste driving him crazy.

With his hands on her hips he turned them around, pressing her against the counter until her body was flat against his. Her hands were roaming his back and he couldn't help but touch her too. His hands travelled her sides, from the contour of her breasts to the smooth skin of her legs. He had been right, they were soft under his touch, and as his fingers moved over them the cold of his rings made her shiver in the best way, a moan escaping her lips. The sound went directly into his groin like a shudder of electricity, making him desperate, a frenzy so strong taking over him that he couldn't control it.

He needed more.

In one swift move he grabbed her by the back of her thighs and lifted her up, leaving her over the counter. Her legs wrapped around his hips automatically as she kissed him hard, her tongue exploring every inch of his mouth as her hands went under his t-shirt and over his abs. His own moved even higher up her thighs, dragging the edge of her sleepwear up her hips as he grabbed her ass, pushing her against him. Ámbar moaned when she felt him hard between her legs and immediately rolled her hips against his, seeking relief.

" _Ámbar_ ", he groaned, his voice sounding more like a deep growl that he almost didn't recognize. 

He felt liquid fire coursing through his veins as he thrusted up, following her movements, a delicious friction forming between their bodies. He was lost, completely lost in her. His hands moved up again towards her waist, slowly making their way to her breasts as her own grabbed the edge of his t-shirt, meaning to pull it up.

And then the kettle started beeping.

The sound was so loud in the otherwise silent night that they broke apart at once, both breathless and wide eyed.

Simón took out his hands as quick as if she had burned him and took some steps back, leaning against the table behind him for support. Ámbar came down from the counter and turned off the wheezing kettle next to her as fast as her wobbling legs allowed her.

All that followed was deafening silence.

After what felt like a whole minute, Ámbar finally turned around to face him.

"Simón—"

"Don't", he voiced hastily as she tried to reach him, but he stepped away from her. He didn't even look up. "Don't come any closer."

Ámbar's dejected voice reached his ears. "Why not?"

His head snapped up at hearing that, turning to her. "Why not?  _Why not?!",_ he yelled in incredulity, but only in whispers 'cause he feared that with the kettle they had already woken everyone up.

He started pacing, his hands rummaging through his hair furiously as he berated himself. "God _,_  Ámbar what are we  _doing?_  You're dating Benicio!"

Her eyes widened. "No, I'm not! I—"

She started refuting but he interrupted her.

"What? You're telling me that he goes around calling himself your boyfriend for nothing? I wasn't born yesterday, Ámbar"

He may have lost his sanity for a moment there but it was  _certainly back_ , and no matter how much he despised Benicio he was not going to play with his feelings, or anyone else's.

She shook her head moving closer to him once more, earnest. "No, Benicio started calling himself that on his own, I never said anything about dating!".

"But you didn't stop it. You didn't deny it and for him it's real so it's the same thing, Ámbar!" Simón shook his head, closing his eyes in frustration and before she could say anything else he spun around. "I gotta go."

Ámbar hurried to catch him before he could leave, grabbing him by his upper arm. "Wait, no, Simón".

He turned to her with a beaten expression, his voice sounding tired. "Ámbar, didn't you get what you wanted already? Now let me go".

She shot him a look, offended.

"What _I_  wanted?", she repeated, and this time it was her that sounded incredulous. "Simón, don't act like it was all my doing, I didn't throw myself at you!".

"No, but you get some sick satisfaction out of provoking me! You are taking advantage of what I feel for you, and that's not okay!", he countered, an accusing finger pointing at her as he did.

Ámbar watched him for long seconds, the look in her eyes changing.

"...What you feel for me?"

Simón's head receded and he gulped, realizing what he had said. He stood tall as their eyes danced, and the more they stared into each other the more he felt his heart race.

"What do you feel for me?", she asked in a small voice. Was it fear what he saw in her eyes? Hope? Both?

He tensed his jaw, his traitorous heart screaming at him to say  _Everything. I feel everything for you._

But he had done enough stupid things for the night.

He took a step back. "I'm going to bed", he announced and turned to leave again, walking towards the kitchen door.

Ámbar followed him.

"No, Simón, answer—"

"Ámbar, I'm serious.", he declared, spinning around and shooting her a grave look. "I'm not gonna answer that or anything else because,  _this?_ ", he gestured between them, " _Never_  should've happened. And it's not gonna happen again".

He saw her eyes turn sad and he felt a pang in his chest at seeing that, but his tone was final, he was resolute.

When he moved away this time, she didn't stop him.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to the multichapter that I wasn't planning on writing but that kind of happened! Hahahah.  
> It'll be short tho.
> 
> A quick note: The tittle of every chapter will complete the sentence of the Fic Tittle, like: "Roads that cross... at Midnight" or "Roads that cross... at example example" sdkjfns just wanted to say that.


	2. ... At Midnight (Part 2)

He tried to avoid her all day. At morning he barely ate in order to get out of the house as soon as possible, and once in the Roller he tried to focus on literally anything else. It was almost working, but then Gary announced he was leaving the Roller and leaving her in charge and it was impossible not to think about her anymore.

So here he was, another day and yet another sleepless night. But the reason this time was clearly different.

He kept turning on his bed, the images he had been trying to escape during the day coming to haunt him at night.

He could see Ámbar standing in the kitchen, her see-through gown alluring. He could see her face getting closer, her eyes looking straight into his, her lips moving so close that he could almost feel them.

And that was the worst part, that he  _could_  feel them. A whole day had passed and he still could feel her lips against his own, could still remember the smoothness of her skin under his touch, the soft and yet hard way their bodies pushed together.

And the guilt drowned him, because he had told himself he wouldn't fall for her games, because she had a boyfriend, because he had to listen to his friends worrying about what she'd do to them now that she was in charge and they had  _reasons_  to...

And most of all, because against everything he craved to do it again.

It was so stupid, feeling guilty over  _not_  feeling guilty enough. But the thing is, he should regret it all and he should feel horrible over playing with someone's feelings (even Benicio's) and he should feel terrible about himself. But the thing he actually regretted the most was making out in Luna's kitchen. That was wrong on  _so_  many levels. But it was also Ámbar's kitchen and  _Ámbar_... The more he remembered her taste the more he wanted to taste it again. Deep down, all he wanted was to touch her again, everything else be damned, and that's what he felt the guiltiest about.

But he couldn't allow himself to be that selfish and reckless, so he tried to convince himself that he  _did_ regret it, that he was an  _awful_  person for having done that and that he was  _never_  going to do it again.

His inner battle wasn't letting him rest. He needed to clear his mind and the only way he knew how was playing music. So he stood up, put on a pair of sandals and went outside, in direction to the deposit. Mónica had told them that day that they could use that space to rehearse freely and without bothering anyone with the loud instruments. He walked inside, grabbed his guitar and sat on one of the sofa beds that apparently the Valentes were arranging for them because there were folded sheets around them.

He started by playing some random cords, trying one after the other until the tune sounded right. Then he tried different speeds and strum patterns before changing to fingerpicking patterns. Without realizing, the melody started to sound familiar...

"That's my song".

Simón's head snapped up at the voice and his heart skipped a beat when he realized it was Ámbar. Somehow she had managed to enter the deposit, close the door behind her and move in front of him without him realizing it.

"What?"

That was all that he could come up with.

"You're playing my song, "¿Cómo me ves?" It's a nice acoustic version. I like it".

So that's why it sounded familiar. He couldn't believe it, he had come here to avoid thinking about her and then his mind had betrayed him by making him play her song. A song that they had sung together once... but that was a long time ago.

Anyway, he wasn't going to dwell on that 'cause it could push him into dangerous territory. He focused on the other matter at hand.

"What are you doing here, Ámbar?"

"I followed you. But—", she paused lifting a hand in the air, "--before you call me a stalker, I gotta clarify that it was because you scared me. I was in my room, trying to sleep, when I heard footsteps. And I thought 'who could possibly be roaming about at this hour?' So I got up, followed the sound and got a glimpse of you walking out the front door. I figured you'd be coming here so I grabbed my robe and went outside as well. I imagined you'd like some company".

She started taking a step closer but immediately he stood up.

"Well, thanks for the thoughtful gesture but I'm done here so I'll return to my room".

"You _just_  got here", she pointed out.

Simón left his guitar on top of the other sofa bed, paying no mind to her tone. "I just wanted to play a little to calm my head. And I did. Now I'm sleepy so I'm gonna go".

He walked past her towards the door but before he could open it she spoke up.

"I've been thinking about you too, you know?"

He froze in front of the exit, the hand that had been hanging over the handle coming back to his side.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you came here to calm your head. I assume what happened last night hasn't let you sleep. It's the same for me".

She was so right that it infuriated him because he didn't want to be thinking about it, he didn't want to be  _feeling_ this way, he didn't want his life to get any more complicated and yet she kept  _pushing._

He turned around, facing her indignantly.

"Ámbar, my life doesn't revolve around you, okay? Maybe I'm still sad about Nico, maybe I'm worried about the future of our skating team, maybe I'm nostalgic about Mexico. There are  _a thousand_  other reasons why I could be restless, Ámbar. But of course you assume it's about you".

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you calling me narcissistic?"

He pursed his lips and shrugged. "You said it, not me."

She scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her. "I can't believe you. I just found you playing one of my songs while looking all melancholic and you're gonna turn this on  _me_?"

"I was just trying random chords, it was a coincidence—"

 _"Bullshit,"_  she cut him out, not buying his nonchalant attitude.

Simón opened his mouth but then changed his mind and closed it.

"You know what, Ámbar? Think whatever you want," he said before turning in direction to the door once more.

He heard her speak up again behind him.

"Sure. Go ahead and run like you always do. You know what you are? A coward. A sad,  _sad_ , spineless guy".

He couldn't help but turn around. "Excuse me?"

Ámbar looked at him straight in the eye. "You heard me. It's clear that you want me but instead of facing it you find excuses to pull away. I don't even know why I bother with you. Just leave. Go on with your boring life".

He gave her a humorless laugh and walked closer. "Well, if you think that the fact that you're the enemy of the Roller team, the fact that we are very different people, the fact that you refuse to be a better person and the fact that you have a boyfriend are just excuses, then sure, I'm lame for staying away from you. But I actually would call it being smart".

She pointed a finger at him. "See? There you go again with that 'different people' and 'better person' monologue. And you call  _me_ narcissistic", she rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, keep denying. I have no interest in being with someone as condescending as you".

This time it was her who moved to leave but he stopped her, grabbing her by the arm.

"Are you serious? After complaining about me running away you're gonna do the same thing?"

She yanked her arm free from his hold. "I'm  _not_  running away. I'm choosing what's best for me, which is staying away from a guy who patronizes me and won't allow himself to come near me because I'm not enough for him".

His eyes flew open wide. _"What?!"_

"Admit it, Simón!", she was screaming at him now, outraged. "That's the real reason you're always going on and on about me 'changing'. It's not out of any nobility,  _you_  think you are too good for me!"

She had finally managed to get on his nerves, he  _snapped._

"Fine! You wanna go this way? Okay then.  _You,_ Ámbar _,_  are too self-centered and blind to realize that all I want is what's best for you! And it's so damn  _tiring._ "

She scoffed. "What's best for me? How could you know what's best for me? Simón,  _please._ "

"I know! I know because I know  _you_!", he yelled, trying to make her see reason. "I know that deep down, you have this light—"

"Oh, don't start with that again!", she interrupted him. "You make me sick with your life lessons. No one asked for your help, just let me be!"

_Oh, to hell with reason!_

"I can't let you be when one moment you act like you want me and the next you go after Benicio!", he screamed, his frustrations setting free like a dam that had been broken.

"You act one moment like you care and then you leave me alone!" She screamed back right at his face.

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T LISTEN TO ME!"

"BECAUSE YOU MAKE ME MAD!"

"YOU DRIVE ME  _ABSOLUTELY_  CRAZY!"

Both were left breathing heavily from their screaming, the puffs of air the only sound that could be heard as they stared at each other intensely.

Two seconds passed. Three. Four.

At the fifth they couldn't handle it anymore.

They collided with a force that was almost bruising but they didn't care. Their mouths devoured each other with hunger in a mess of lips, tongues and teeth. Simón's hands gripped Ámbar face pulling her as close as possible and still feeling like it was not enough. Ámbar's moved to his hair, tugging on it and digging her nails on his scalp as he walked her backwards, pushing her against the first surface that he found without even bothering to check what it was. It must have been some kind of shelf or something because, when her back hit it, he could hear objects falling to the ground, but it only faintly reached his ears because the sound of he moans as he pulled her leg up and hitched it at his hip drowned anything else.

Simón let go of her lips to kiss her neck, enjoying the taste of her flesh and her sweet scent as his hand caressed the leg he was holding. His right hand pulled her robe so his mouth could explore her shoulder as well, and with a shrug from her part, the garment fell to the floor. Ámbar slid her hands under his t-shirt and started roaming every inch of skin she could find. He tightened his grip on her waist, the feeling of her fingers on him adding to his fire. 

"I'm so,  _so_  crazy for you", he murmured between kisses on her neck, his warm breath making her shiver.

"I...", she breathed as her hands grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it up, making him part from her skin to discard it over his head. Her hands landed on his exposed chest and her eyes seemed to want to eat him alive. "I need you."

Simón groaned and claimed her lips again. She had voiced exactly his thoughts. As his mouth ravished hers, his hands moved to the back of her thighs and with one swift move he lifted her up, her legs and arms wrapping around him as to not fall. He moved them forwards, searching blindly with his hand for the edge of the couch until he found it. He rested one knee on top of it before laying Ámbar down under him, never breaking the kiss.

Her legs stayed around his thigh on the couch and her hands ran all over his back as their tongues tangled and untangled, the warm feeling of each other's mouth's and sharing each other's breaths making them both dizzy. Simón's hands slid under her nightdress, needing to feel her skin, and slowly made their way up her body, feeling every curve. His left hand stayed on her waist but his right kept going up, reaching her breast and giving it a little squeeze.

Ámbar let out a little whimper and curved her back, encouraging him, needing him to touch her more. Slowly, he started circling her nipple with his thumb, the teasing movements making her whimpers turn louder. Her hips were twisting slightly under him, and when he pinched the tip of her breast, they jumped up.

" _Simón!"_ , she moaned loudly as her core came in contact with his thigh. Her hand held onto his shoulders strongly as his mouth went to her neck again, licking and sucking on it as he kept stimulating her nipple. The actions were driving her so crazy that she started rubbing herself against his thigh shamelessly, whines escaping her lips as she sought relief. She needed more.

Her hands traced his skin again, going down his chest, feeling his abs and exploring its planes. Then a hand moved lower, under his shorts, and in a swift movement, she grabbed him in her palm.

"Wow."

Simón would've loved to throw a smart remark at her amazed gasp but all he could manage was a choked sound as he froze above her, all his muscles going taut. His hands grabbed the cushion on either side of her as her hand started caressing his length slowly, up and down and back again. His breathing turned ragged, his eyes shut closed from the pleasure and when she ran her thumb through his tip he almost lost his mind.

" _Ámbar!"_ , he yelled as he thrusted against her hand, not being able to help it.

Her hand tightened her grip and she stroked him harder. His hips followed her movements as groans and moans escaped from his throat. More than the rubbing itself it was the fact that it was  ** _her_  **touching him what was driving him insane.

After some seconds, Simón groaned and reluctantly took her hand away, grabbing her other one as well and holding them over her head. He looked at her under him: flushed skin, lips slightly opened and eyes dark with desire looking right back at him.

"If you don't want this tell me right now before I can't hold back anymore", he rushed to say in a raspy voice. It almost sounded like he was in pain, and in some way, he was.

Ámbar's answer was to wrap her legs around him and lock them at his back.

"Don't stop", she panted, and Simón launched forwards, claiming her lips again frantically, desperately.

His hands pulled on her clothing and hers did the same with his, their desire canceling any sense of self-consciousness they could've had. Simón couldn't help but smother her chest with kisses once it was bare in front of him since he never had seen it before, running his tongue over her freckles. Ámbar's hands grabbed his ass then, pushing him against her to convey that she needed him  _now._

He was also already swollen to his limit, so with one tug he got rid of her underwear and positioned himself at her entrance. She whimpered as he rubbed his tip over her exposed center, teasing them both and coating himself with her wetness before finally,  _finally_  entering her in one deep thrust.

Both moaned at the same time as the pleasure of being joined overwhelmed them. Ámbar's hands grabbed his shoulders and his held her hips.

"God, Ámbar, you feel amazing", he grunted against her neck once he was as deep as he could go. He gave her a moment to adjust to him before moving, enjoying the feeling of her walls gripping him tight. He had dreamed of this once or twice but,  _god_ , the real thing was better. He felt like he'd never be the same now that he knew how it was to be inside her.

She rolled her hips signalizing for him to move and he did, sliding almost all the way out before thrusting back in, making her moan again. He repeated the action, faster each time, and as he started pounding into her with abandon her moans turned into his name. It was his new favorite sound.

She was digging her nails on his back as he slammed into her and he couldn't help but groan her name too, over and over again because this was madness of the  _best_  kind. He almost screamed he loved her, that's how far gone he was. She felt so incredibly good, melting hot, and their bodies made a wet sound every time they collided turning him on even more. He could see every single one of her expressions, how her face melted and contorted in pleasure every time he hit the right angle. She looked so freaking beautiful, and her body shined from the sweat.

He kissed her, he couldn't not to. Their lips sealed together and their tongues swallowed each other's sounds as they moved. Then he let go of her lips and kissed her cheek, her ear, her neck. She was arching her back and Simón couldn't help but bring one of her taut nipples into his mouth.

"SIMÓN,  _GOD!_ ", she yelled as he sucked on her skin and her legs twisted around him. It was so loud that if they hadn't been in the deposit they would've woken everyone up and he loved it. He replaced his mouth with his hand and fastened his pace. Her breathing was coming out in pants and her walls were gripping him tighter and he knew she was close. He kept pushing into her, deep and hard, and after some more thrusts and a twist of her nipple, she fell apart underneath him, screaming his name.

He groaned loudly at the feeling of her walls pulsing around him, urging him to his own release. He found it not long after, spilling inside her with a loud guttural sound that almost sounded animal. He kept moving his hips erratically until he had given her all he had and then he collapsed on top of her, spent.

They both laid there in a mess of limbs as they came down from their high, breathless and exhausted. Simón only had the strength to grab one of the sheets that were folded beside the couch and cover them from the cold of the night before closing his eyes. He felt Ámbar nestle against his chest, seeking his warm and he passed his arm around her. They were sated and tired in the best way, so only one minute later, they were asleep.

 

...

..

.

 

* * *

 

Simón was having a very nice dream.

He felt warm, light, more at peace than in a very long time and—

" **WHAT THE FUCK** "

Simón jumped awake, sitting in bed and looking around in alarm. "What? What happened?"

He blinked at the sudden light that hit his eyes and saw Pedro standing at the door, gaping at him in shock with his eyes wide open. His groggy brain registered the big amount of furniture around the place and realized that it wasn't the door of his bedroom where he was standing but the door of the deposit.

He looked down and saw he wasn't in his bed either. He was on a couch, covered by a blanket and by his side was Ámbar, also sitting and looking widely at Pedro as she covered her naked chest.

Ámbar.

Sheet.

Naked.

Deposit.

PEDRO!

Simón's eyes flew open. "What are you doing here?!", he yelled as he finally realized the position he was in.

"What am  ** _I_**  doing here?!", the drummer retorted in utter disbelief that he had just asked him that.

Simón stood up with the intention to go over to him and do damage control before things got out of hand and Pedro instantly grimaced and brought his hands to his face.

"OH MY GOD, COVER YOURSELF!"

"IF YOU DON'T WANNA SEE THEN TURN AROUND!", countered Simón as he grabbed his clothes from the floor. "And close the door while you're at it!"

Pedro did just that, turning around so his back was to the couple and closing the door in front of him so no one else could see the scene.

Simón put on his shorts and t-shirt in a hurry and frantically searched for his shoes. It wasn't until he slid them on that he turned to Ámbar and he slowed down. Her eyes were fixed on him and he walked towards her, crouching next to the couch.

"Listen, I— ...", he started in a low voice but stopped when he looked at her up close, all disheveled, and everything that happened fell at him like a ton of bricks and he didn't know what to say or do, he didn't know anything. "I'll take care of him. You stay here and get dressed, okay?"

"Okay. But, Simón...", she was looking at him and her eyes didn't only reflect fear. They had a lot of emotions and they were gazing into his, asking for him to answer to any of those emotions, but he couldn't, not now.

"Later", he said, wishing that was enough for now and leaned to leave a quick kiss on her forehead because leaving without any kind of contact seemed wrong somehow.

He ran to the door and pulled Pedro outside with him before closing it, leaving Ámbar behind.

The bright sunrays hurt his eyes at first but he forced himself to keep walking until they were far enough from the deposit and from the mansion so there'd be no eavesdropping. He stood under the shade of a tree and finally let go of Pedro, turning around to face him.

"You mind explaining what that was?", said his friend, pointing at the direction where they had come from. Simón opened his mouth only to be interrupted by him again. "And if you tell me that it's not what it looks like, I'm literally going to beat you with my drumsticks."

Simón dropped his hands at his sides, defeated. "Then there's nothing to explain."

Pedro snorted. "There's  _a lot_  to explain. You could start by  _why_ the deposit, it could've been literally anyone if it wasn't me."

"Please don't talk about this with anyone, Pedro,  _please_ ", he hurried to implore, not knowing what he would do if everyone found out,  _if the Valentes found out._

"Of course not. It'll be safe with me, don't worry", vowed Pedro, with a look that told him that he got his back. Simón visibly relaxed at hearing that. "But, I mean, I don't get it", added the blue-eyed, "wasn't she with Benicio?"

Simón tensed up again and clenched his jaw. "She is."

"Then what the hell were you thinking?"

"I— I don't know, one thing just led to another and it just happened", he stammered out. To be honest, he didn't believe that he had been thinking at all.

"Right, you just happened to fall on top of her naked, that happens a lot", replied Pedro with sarcasm.

Simón groaned in frustration. "No, of course not! It's just...", he closed his eyes and sighed before opening them again. "Okay, you know I like her, right? I've told you."

"Obviously", the blue-eyed stated as a matter of fact.

"Alright, what I only told Luna is that I don't just like her, I'm in love with her", he confessed.

"Wow, really?", said Pedro, a little awed by the deepness of his feelings. "And why did you only tell Luna? Aren't I your friend?"

"Because when I told her she told me exactly what you guy's been telling me: that I need to forget about her, that she's only going to hurt me... and like, I know you're concerned but I can't help this Pedro, I really can't".

Right at that moment, he saw her walking rapidly towards the mansion, wrapped in her robe. His eyes followed her until she went inside and Pedro turned around to see what he was looking.

"Well _, clearly",_ stated Pedro as he turned back to him. It was pretty obvious that it wasn't something he could control judging by current events.  _"..._ But Simón, she's with someone else."

Simón felt a jab to his heart as he looked at the worried eyes of his friend.

"I know. I know, and I didn't plan for this to happen, I swear. Do you think I like the idea that after tonight she's just going to go back to his arms as if nothing happened? Of course not!"

"So you want to be with her?"

His dark eyes met his clear ones for long seconds before he could utter something.

"... I don't know. I love her, but she hasn't been acting like herself. She's still adamant on acting bad and going against the Roller and...  _god_ , this was a mistake, I shouldn't have done this. Not now, not like this", said Simón as he ran his hands through his hair in distress. He leaned his back against the tree, worrying about what he was going to do now.

"Well, I can't tell you what to do, friend. I'm here for you, always, but only you can decide that and I hope you choose well..." 

There was a small silence, in which Simón wished for the same thing before his friend added more. "And about your timing, yeah, we  _just_  arrived at the mansion. You really waste no time", Pedro noted with a whistle.

Simón gave him a look. "Not funny, Pedro."

The blue-eyed seemed deep in thought for a moment and then he spoke again.

"You know what  _is_  funny though? That Ámbar is now the new one in charge of the Jam & Roller."

Simón blinked at him. "So?"

"So... you slept with your boss", said Pedro, giving him two pity slaps on the back before moving back to the mansion to get ready for work.

 

_..._

_Shit._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you just love when a character says that he'll never do something and then he does? Hahah because I do! 
> 
> Hope you liked this, specially that scene *cough cough* (hope it wasn't too much). Anyway, see you next chapter!


	3. ... With Handwritings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: in this universe Emma doesn't exist. Or she does, but she's in England. This is not because I hate her or anything (on the contrary, I quite liked her character) but because in this timeline her whole character would be useless. Ámbar really doesn't need more motivation to fight for Simón that she already has, so what would be the point of throwing Emma in here if she'd just be in the background doing nothing?   
> That's why I took the decision of taking her out, sorry Emma!

Being the head of the Roller was way more work than she thought it would be.

Technically she had the directors of VIDIA to help her out but in truth she had mountains of paperwok to fill out by her own and some of them she didn’t even understand. She got down to it, putting all her effort on doing it perfectly because she needed to prove that she could handle it, but it was turning out to be hard.

Which _sucked_ , not only because she was stressed out but because it had prevented her from talking to Simón since that morning.

And they _really_ needed to talk.

Last night had been… unforgettable. Sure, it was out of impulse, but it had been _great._ Best night of her life, probably. The only problem? That they were found out right after and, as always, Simón freaked out. Well, she freaked out too, it’s not like she enjoyed being found covered only by a sheet and in a compromising position where there was no way to misinterprete the situation. But she knew how she felt, she knew what she wanted and she had gotten it… or so she thought, because he didn’t seem so convinced.

All that time telling Emilia that she wasn’t going to fall for Simón… it was laughable because she never fell _out_ of love with him. And she tried, believe her, she tried. But it was like he could disarm her with just one look. One smile.

Lately he didn’t smile at her that often.

She knew Emilia thought he was a loser, but she didn’t think so. Half the things she had spat at him the previous day she didn’t mean them. Okay, maybe sometimes she did think he was a coward, but she knew that he didn’t believe he was better than her. Simón wasn’t the kind of person that thought he was better than anyone, _Benicio_ was.

Oh, Benicio.

She did kind of feel bad for him. He acted like he just wanted to be with her to have a partner in crime and because she was beautiful but she was pretty sure that he liked her for real. In his own weird way. Now, kissing someone else was one thing, but totally having mind-blowing sex with said person? That was something else entirely.

But what she had told Simón was true: she never said anything about dating. She liked letting him say that in front of Simón because she expected to get a reaction out of him, but her intention never was to date him seriously. She even told him plenty of times that he shouldn’t get confused, that she knew what she wanted and it wasn’t him.

She shouldn’t have given him hope, that was her bad.

Anyway, there was no point in crying over something she couldn’t change, what was done was done. What she _could_ change was what would come after… and that’s why she needed to talk to Simón. She needed to let him know what it had meant to her, what _he_ meant for her because she didn’t have the strength to deny it anymore.  

And she needed to do something about Benicio because, if she wanted to be with Simón, the italian was in the way. But she didn’t have time to do that either. She’d break up with him right now over text but she wasn’t _that_ heartless. These were things you’re supposed to do in person. And also… she didn’t want to end up alone if Simón still didn’t want her.

Which she was starting to think was the case, because every time they had crossed eyes that day he had looked away instantly.

God, she wanted to shake him. How could it be possible for him to act so distant after spending the night together? Did it not mean anything at all for him? No, he must have felt something, there’s no way he couldn’t. She could still hear his raspy voice saying that he was crazy for her… but then again, maybe it was a heat of the moment thing. Ugh, how could things be so messed up?

Maybe he thought _she_ didn’t feel anything? After all his monologue of them being different and saying she refuses to be better maybe he was scared of that. How could she prove that this was serious for her? How could she show him that with him her defensive walls didn’t work? That she didn’t want to feel but she couldn’t get him out of her heart? How could she show him that she was willing to do things right for him?

She could tell him but words didn’t seem to work between them. Last night was an example of that.

What about actions then? Was there anything she could do as a gesture of good faith?

As she filled up the papers of the Roller’s inventory and deliveries, she came up with an idea.

 

 

 

**************************************************************************************************************************

It was afternoon when Simón witnessed alongside his friends how Ámbar gathered everyone and announced her idea of making a Flash Open. All day long they had been exchanging looks from afar, but he quickly looked away every time it happened.

He still wasn’t over the fact that he had slept with his boss. No, they hadn’t just ‘slept’ together, they had had breath-taking, earth-shattering, mind-blowing sex which was a whole different matter and it made his temperature rise only thinking about it. He only wished he had been thinking _before_ any of it happened, or during, not just threw himself at her without a care in the worl---

Wait.

Simón put down the rental skates he had been fixing in the lockers room as he racked his brain for a memory of last night. A memory he didn’t find, because it didn’t happen.

Oh god, he hadn’t used a condom.

He whined and dug his face in his hands. _How stupid could he be?!_

So not only he had slept with Ámbar, who was in a relationship, and was his boss, but he also hadn’t thought about protecting themselves while at it.

This was just _great._

But she hadn’t said anything either so maybe she had that covered. That was most probably the case now that he thought about it. Ámbar was a smart girl, not like him who was an _**idiot**_.

He’d still had to ask her though, he had to make sure.

Hell, how had he ended up in this mess? … Okay, he knew exactly how, he remembered quite clearly. But the thing now was, how did he get things back to normal? … Did he _want to?_

He loved her, he knew he loved her, but she was dating someone else and she was still adamant on keeping this dark façade, and he knew he loved the real Ámbar but… did he love this one as well? If she never changed back to who she used to be, would he be okay with that?

It would bring trouble with his friends, with his team… actually, it pretty much would only mean trouble.

But he was still considering it and that said something. Specially when she said she wanted the Open Music to be a boys vs girls so they could all get over their differences and stop the war between teams. His heart really soared at hearing that, at seeing her smile at everyone and talk about peace. He caught a glimpse of the Ámbar he knew she could be, and he thought maybe, just maybe, the idea of going back to her wouldn’t be so crazy after all.

… Then he compared Benicio’s handwriting with the number of Felipe Mendevilla and he grabbed all of those previous thoughts and sent them to hell.

 

 

**************************************************************************************************************************

Ámbar was taking out the green folder that had the documents she needed from under the bar table when Simón approached her suddenly.

“I need to talk to you”.

Ámbar looked at him surprised. After all his avoiding she was thinking _she_ ’d have to be the one to approach him first.

“Me too”, she said with emotion, glad that he had come to her. “I’ve been meaning to all day, but I have all this work and –”

“It’ll be quick”, he interrupted her, and that’s when she noticed he looked serious, almost like he was mad.  

Concerned, she put the folder down on top of the bar and decided she could spare a few minutes, specially since she had been meaning to converse this all day. “Alright”.

Simón opened his mouth but then he seemed to reconsider and closed it. He started again, seeming more sheepish than grim this time.

“Actually, it’s two things. The first one, um… well, I realized that we didn’t—I mean, _I_ didn’t…”, he looked around like checking no one was near before whispering the next part “…wear any protection last night, which was totally irresponsible from my part, and I need to know if you…” He left the question hanging and now she understood why he looked so serious. She hurried to ease his mind.

“I’m on the pill, don’t worry”.

She saw him relax a little at hearing that but then just as quickly he tensed up, a grimace appearing on his face. “Right. Benicio, how could I forget”, he remarked looking away from her.  

Ámbar’s eyes widened.

“What? No, it’s not because of him. We haven’t—It’s not that”, she rushed to explain “I just started with Matteo and never stopped cause it helps with the cramps and regulates your circle”. Aaand in her rush said more than she probably needed to. But whatever, it was common stuff.

Simón nodded as he processed that.

“And now that we’re finally talking about it”, said the blonde, taking advantage of his silence to get all out of her chest, “I want you to know that—”

“Actually, Ámbar…”, he interrupted again, looking down as he said the next words. “… I think it’ll be better if we forget about what happened”.

Her heart stopped.

“…What?” 

She couldn’t have heard that right. He remained silent and she let out a laugh.  “You’re not serious. Look at you, you can’t even look me in the eyes.”

He looked up then, and his brown eyes connected with hers but they were cold. “I am serious.”

This time she could judge by his face that he really did mean it.

She felt her heart fall. She had hoped it had meant something for him…

How could it _not_ mean something for him? _How dare he?_

“Oh, I get it. You got what you wanted so now we’re done, is that it?”, she said crossing her arms in front of her, her voice dripping with venom.   

He looked scandalized. “Of course not! Ámbar—”

“You’re the worst, I can’t believe you!”, she accused with pain. She thought he was a nice guy, she thought--  

“I’m telling you is not about that!”, defended Simón, and he really looked outraged that she thought that.

“Then what is it?”, she asked, not knowing what to believe anymore.

“This!”

Ámbar watched as he took out two pieces of paper and showed them to her.

“What? Two pieces of paper? Are you kidding me?”, she asked offended, because it didn’t seem relevant and had nothing to do with anything.

Paying no mind to her tone, he pointed to each note with a grim face.

“ _This_ is the list of songs that Benicio said he’d agree to sing with us in the Open. By the way he has been impossible to work with”, he noted frustrated, “And _this_ is Felipe Mendevilla’s phone number. Or so we thought because if you look at the handwriting they’re pretty similar, and I find it very weird that after asking to see Luna right away he’d just go on a trip and don’t return her calls… So, my question is. Did you guys change Felipe’s number?”

Ámbar felt her heart rate rise as he looked at her. Now she understood why he looked so serious, why he was being so cold. He knew. He wanted confirmation but he knew.

He wasn’t supposed to find out about that, no one was. It was clear that he was mad and she couldn’t help but think that this was the worst timing possible for him to find out about this. Why did her past always had to come bit her when it came to him?

She thought about denying it but there was close to no point. Then she thought about begging him to forgive her but then she quickly got rid of that idea. She was Ámbar Smith, she didn’t beg. And also, she could see why this would bother him but it was _still_ not excuse to ignore what happened between them.

He thought he could sleep with her one day and the next jump at the first opportunity to accuse her? That it would somehow erase his actions? That’s not how it worked.

She crossed her arms in front of her and looked at him defiant. “So what if we did? What’s the big deal?”

There. At least _she_ was going to own her doings.   

Simón looked at her with wide eyes.

“What do you mean what’s the big deal? It’s horrible!”, he claimed outraged, which made _her_ turn outraged.

“What _we_ did is horrible? What about what _you_ did?”, she retorted, all the anger from the past days coming back at her.   

“What did _we_ do?”, he asked, having the nerve to look clueless.  

“You ruined our festival!”, she growled, the memory of that day where they came to the rink only to find it empty still fresh in her mind. “We lost a huge professional opportunity as skaters because of you!”

He looked at her disapprovingly. “We didn’t ruin anything, and Luna doesn’t deserve any of this”.

He sounded so sorry for Luna that she rolled her eyes. “Is just a phone number, she won’t die”.

Simón didn’t seem to see it that way though.

“It’s not just a phone number because, what if Felipe had an awesome offer for her? She’s very talented and he saw that and maybe now that offer is lost because you changed that number”.

“ _I’m_ very talented as well and I could’ve received _a thousand_ offers, but I didn’t, and you know why? Because of her. So now we’re even”.

He looked at her sadly.

“Ámbar, I know you’re angry and that you were hurt by what happened with the festival. Sometimes we do things we shouldn’t when we’re angry but—I mean, open your eyes, Ámbar”.

All his body language seemed to be begging for her to understand what he was saying, and she did, deep down she did but--

“In my eyes she’s at fault. _She’s_ the one that deprived me of this and I- I’m _furious_ with her, I can’t control it, my blood boils and I can’t help it”, she confessed.

She was frustrated to no end. It wasn’t fair that her festival was ruined after they worked so hard, it wasn’t fair the audience changed the choreography they rehearsed so much for a spontaneous one on the street, it wasn’t fair that Luna always got what she wanted while she didn’t, none of it was fair.

He looked at her concerned. “I can see that, but you can’t just keep doing these things, you’re just sinking yourself lower”.

_Sinking herself lower?_

“You didn’t seem to care about any of that last night”, she spat.

She wasn’t going to let him lecture her after what he had done, what _they_ had done together. Maybe he was eager to forget, but she wasn’t going to let him do it so easily.  

Simón’s mouth fell closed as he looked away, checking once more for any eavesdropping. She was half expecting him to change the subject again but she saw him close his eyes and sigh. When he opened them again and stared into her eyes there was no judgment anymore.

He didn’t look mad or distant, he was looking at her openly for the first time since everything and it made her slacken her stance. She let her hands fall to her sides as he spoke with honesty for once.

“Ámbar, what happened between us was… _intense_. And I won’t tell you that I didn’t want it because I’d be lying. But I think we can both agree that we let it get too far. I mean, you have a boyfriend—"

“I already told you that—”

“— _And_ , even if that wasn’t an issue, I can’t be with someone that wants to hurt my friends”.

Ámbar felt a pang in her chest.

“She hurt me first!”, she defended, trying to make him see from her point of view. It’s not like she had done it out of evilness, Luna had taken something from her _again_ so all she did was get even.

He took a step closer then and his eyes were kind as they stared into hers.

“Ámbar… I get it. I understand that you can’t control how you feel. But I also know that… the Ámbar I like knows that it was wrong”.

His eyes danced between hers and she felt her anger subdue. How did he do that? How could he ease her with just one look?

“… Maybe, I don’t know”, she found herself whispering. Maybe she just wanted to be the Ámbar he could see in her or maybe without the anger she really did regret it, she didn’t know.

But she liked the little smile that he gave her.

“See? You doubted. That’s step one. And I’m gonna give you the chance to take the next one”.

Ámbar frowned. “What are you talking about?”

His smile turned bigger as he spoke matter-of-factly. “You’re gonna talk to Luna. You’re gonna tell her everything and apologize, sincerely”.

Her eyes widened. “ _What_? No, I’m not.” One thing was admitting to him that it was wrong, another _very different one_ was saying that to Luna.

He looked like he knew she was going to object, but he didn’t recede.

“Ámbar, I could tell her myself. But I wanna give you this chance to fix things. Because I believe that deep down you regret it, and that this isn’t you. I believe that you’re hurt and that’s why you lash out but you don’t really want to be fighting all the time. You just need a chance to do things right, and I trust you will. Because I believe the real Ámbar is still in there…  Please, _please_ don’t prove me wrong”.

There were those begging eyes again. They were always begging her for something: to be nicer, to be honest, to _feel…_ but this time they were asking her not to break his trust in her, to not let him down.

And that’s the last thing she wanted.

“Okay. I’ll talk to Luna”.

A huge weight seemed to lift from his shoulders as he smiled. “Thank you”.    

They stared at each other for a moment longer until he seemed to realize what he was doing and he looked away, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“Here”, he said as he grabbed the green folder and handed it to her, “I won’t take away any more of your time, sorry.”

“It’s okay”, she said as she grabbed it, and their hands touched when she did but neither said anything about it.

Muttering he should get back to work he turned around and walked towards the lockers.

Ámbar saw him go as she hugged the folder against her chest.

She hoped she had made the right decision.

 

**************************************************************************************************************************

Ámbar spent the rest of the day working, convincing Emilia and Benicio that the Open was a good idea for their public image (which wasn’t a lie, it really could work on their advantage) and rehearsing with the rest of the girls for their music number.

She was exhausted, so she climbed to her bedroom right after she ate something and she was about to go in when she heard her name.

Simón had also been working and rehearsing with the guys so he hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to her again since before, so he chose to do so before going to sleep because he really needed to settle that issue.

“Ámbar”.

She turned towards him with a little smile.

“Well, hello. Came for your goodnight kiss?”, purred Ámbar as she got closer, and even if it was just a second he couldn’t help his eyes from going to her lips before moving back up. Damn it.

“No. I came to ask if you talked to Luna yet”, he said resolutely, because he was resolute. He had decided yesterday that that matter was top priority over anything else. He had decided to forget about what happened, mark it as a moment of weakness and go back to his old life where he respected boundaries and knew what was best for him. Love had made him blind, but that thing with Felipe’s number was a wake up call for him.

Kisses weren’t apologies and not because she wanted him it meant she had returned to the Ámbar he knew. It wasn’t that easy, no matter how much he wished it was.

And it would be hard, because every time he looked at her he had flashback of their night together, it was engraved in his mind.

But he was going to be strong, if not for him for Luna.  

“Why the rush? It’s only been one day”, she pointed out, and because she noticed his slip up she inched even closer, her own eyes staring at his lips before returning to his brown ones. “Or perhaps you’re using this as an excuse to get closer to me?”

No, it was a reason to stay _away_ from her, he thought.

He took a step back. “I’m serious, Ámbar”.

She had been trying to lift the mood with some teasing but apparently it wasn’t an option _._

She sighed. “No, I haven’t—", he opened his mouth to protest but she interrupted him. “I know, I know, and _I will_ , really. But I’ve been too busy coordinating the Flash Open and taking care of all the legal paperwork of the Roller, I haven’t got the time”.

“Well, you’re at home now, Luna literally lives here as well, talk to her”, he stated as if it was obvious.

She looked at him like he was crazy. “I can’t just go ahead and do it like that, it has to be in good timing!”

“And what would good timing be?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m waiting for it”.

He gave her a look, not amused by that response at all. He shook his head and tried once more to make her see how important this was.

“Ámbar, do you realize that I’m putting my friendship with Luna at risk for you? This is a big deal and I’m keeping quiet because of you, but if you don’t tell Luna soon—”

 “Tell me what?”

Both turned at the same time, seeing Luna appear out of nowhere. She was looking at them with a question mark on her face and Ámbar felt her mouth go dry.

She looked at Simón and he looked back at her.

“Ámbar here has something to tell you”, he told his best friend as he looked at the blonde dead in the eye.

“What do you have to tell me?”, the brunette asked in all innocent curiosity and Ámbar had never felt more on the spot.  Simón was urging her to tell her but she couldn’t, not now, she hadn’t even prepared herself.

As fast as she could she made something up.

“I… was talking to Simón about tomorrow’s Open. I had this new idea of having two solo performances, one for each team, and I was wondering if you’d like to be the representative for the girls”.

Simón blinked. _What?_

“Wow, really? Of course! I’d love to!”, exclaimed Luna looking at Simón all smiley and excited and he couldn’t do anything but smile back, even if it was fake.

“Thank you so much”, said Luna turning to her, and he seized that she wasn’t looking at him to throw daggers at Ámbar with his eyes.

But he didn’t give her away. He was frustrated but he understood that it was hard for her. He still had the hope that she’d talk to her on her own, he still wanted to believe that she would.

So he just followed Luna downstairs, hoping he had made the right decision with trusting her.

Ámbar saw them disappear and wiped the fake smile from her face. Trust Luna to appear on the worst timing possible, did she have a super power that told her when someone was talking about her? Or maybe she just loved to interrupt conversations in general.

Anyway, that wasn’t the most important part here.

She got inside her room and sat on her bed as she recalled the last thing he had told her. 

He said he was risking his friendship with Luna because of her. Luna is his best friend, she had seen plenty of times how much he cared about her, he wouldn’t jeopardize that for just anyone. But he was doing it, _for her._

That meant that he really cared about her, that _had_ to be the reason.

And she was gonna make him admit it.  

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the next chapter--> Roads That Cross... At Open Musics.
> 
> If you thought this chapter was all chit-chat and nothing happened, wait for that one.


	4. ... At Open Musics

It was the morning of the Open Music. Or “Flash Open” as Ámbar had called it, because it had really been planned on record time. The rehearsals had also been at a face pace, but he had no doubt that their presentation with the guys would be a success. They sounded awesome and the moves they had come up with were great, they were gonna rock it.

He was at the bar table as Pedro worked on the lockers when he heard his name being called. 

“Simón!”

He turned to see Ámbar right as she arrived at the back of the bar with a pen and clipboard in hand. She looked pretty with her thin strap black shirt over her grey t-shirt (let’s be honest, she always did) but she also looked agitated.

“I need you to change the graphics of the screens”, she said as she pointed to the television screens around the cafeteria. “From now on there should only appear the Jam & Roller logo, the Red Shark’s one is outdated and has to go, it’s about time.”

He smiled. Finally things in the Roller were getting back to how they used to be.

“I love that idea, I’ll get to it right now”, he announced before turning around, but she called out to him before he could take a step.

“Wait, did you do the sound check?”

“No, but I was going to do it n—”  

He didn’t get to finish before she started speaking again, or more accurately, throwing inquiries at a high speed. 

“Did the delivery guys arrive with the costumes? Are were loaded up on food? Big audiences mean more food than usual. The lightning of the stage background is on point? I would hate for one of the light bulbs to go off in the middle of a performance,” her eyes widened, “Oh god, what if half of it ends up turning down and the stage reads just ‘Open’? Like, ‘Open _nothing’_ , what would I _do_?”

He had been right, she _was_ agitated, and it got him worried, he didn’t like seeing her like that.

“Hey”, he took a step closer to her, leaning over the table so she looked at him. “Hey, slow down.  Everything’s going to be fine”, he told her in a calming voice, but she shook her head.

“I can’t slow down. Look at this huge to-do list”, she uttered pointing at her clipboard, “there’s still a hundred things that need to get done and time’s flying by”.

She left the clipboard on the table as she looked at it distressed. Simón moved his hand and placed it over hers in what he hoped would be a comforting gesture.

“Well, I’m here for you. Whatever you need”, he told her honestly.

Her eyes danced between his and it was only then that he noticed that the moment was turning deeper than it should. He had been so focused on making her feel better that he forgot he was meant to keep his distance.

“…Boss”, he added to his sentence as he took his hand away from hers. It _was_ his job to help her after all, so it made it less personal.

She didn’t seem to pay mind to any of that though. She just gave him a little smile. “Thank you. And sorry for attacking you with all this but I’m stressed. Like, _really_ stressed out because it’s my first event as head of the Roller and I want everything to be **_perfect_** , you know? Like, not a thing out of place, not a single mistake made and— … Why are you looking at me like that?”

In his face had a appeared a smile he couldn’t help. “Oh, no, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about how you’re always this perfectionist. It’s kinda—”, he was gonna say _cute_ , but he managed to stop himself before it slipped out. He really shouldn’t be calling her cute right now. Actually, he shouldn’t be thinking it. Couldn’t he focus for once in his life?

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Go on, boss, tell me what else you need, I’m listening”, he said in business mode. _Work, just work, you’re working._

“Right, um…”, she checked her list again, “… Actually, I think I already told you everythi—Wait, almost forgot. That guy, Michel? He can sing with you guys, no problem”.

He nodded, glad to hear it. “Perfect”. After some seconds without new instructions he asked. “So… nothing else, boss?”

Ámbar smiled and rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to call me boss every single time”. She seemed amused by it, but then her smile turned coquettish and she gave him a seductive look. “…Unless you have a thing for it?”

He lifted an eyebrow. Was she insinuating he had a boss kink?

His heart beat faster as he drowned on her blue stare. She had inched closer, leaning her forearms on the table and he found himself doing the same, his eyes not straying from hers like in challenge.

“A thing?”, he mused, as if considering it, “… I don’t know, boss. Should I?”

They looked at each other intensely and he could see a fire emerge in her eyes. He had seen that look before and it made his heart race as the images flooded his mind. He saw her gaze move down towards his lips and her tongue came out to wet her own. The pure gesture almost made him groan and that’s when alarm bells exploded inside his head.  

_WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP FLIRTING WITH HER!_

Rapidly he took a step back and cleared his throat.

“Well, if you don’t need anything else right now Ámbar…”, he said as he moved random stuff on the table as if he was arranging them, calming his heart and focusing on what was important before he turned towards her once more. “Could we perhaps talk a little about the Felipe Mendevilla thing? Please?”, _before I lose my mind._ “Because I feel like giving Luna a solo performance at the Open isn’t enough to make up for what you did”. 

The guilt of not telling Luna the truth last night had made it hard to sleep. He had just watched as Ámbar invented something to avoid coming clean. Did that count as lying to Luna? He wasn’t sure. All he knew is that the sooner Ámbar talked to her the better.

For a second he thought Ámbar looked disappointed at the change of topic, but then she quickly cooled her expression to one of detachment.

“I didn’t say it was either”, she voiced with a purse of her lips.

Simón nodded. At least she knew it wasn’t gonna be that easy. “Alright. Then, could you please talk to her?”, he asked, sounding like a broken record even to his own ears but he couldn’t keep on hiding this from Luna forever, she needed to know.

The blonde grimaced. “Oh no, I can’t right now Simón, I told you. I’m _this_ close to collapsing, I have a ton of things to do, look at this list—”

“Hey, what’s up?”, ringed out a voice suddenly. It was Matteo, who was walking towards them with a smile on his face.

Just as he arrived Ámbar grabbed her stuff from the table to leave. Before she did, Simón looked at her once more.

“Everything’s going to be alright”, he assured with a smile.

Ámbar smiled back at him and then turned around, leaving the cafeteria to keep on preparing everything for the Open.

Matteo watched her leave and then turned to him with a teasing smile. “Anything going on over here?”, he asked, pretty much wiggling his eyebrows at him and Simón scoffed internally.

 _Oh, he had **no** idea_.

 

 

******************************************************************************************

It had been tough, but she managed to have everything ready and running smoothly by the time people started to arrive. The place was packed, not only by regulars (who were already wearing the costumes she had prepared) but also by new faces, and Ámbar channeled her characteristic confidence once everyone was sited and the programmed hour arrived.

_Let the show begin._

The blonde walked up the stage and stood in front of the microphone like she had been born to do so (and she pretty much was) and greeted everyone with a smile.

“Welcome everyone to my first Open”, she saluted, and the audience applauded. She started her opening speech by thanking VIDIA for the opportunity, promising she wouldn’t let them down and that she had many other ideas for the Roller. Now that she was in charge, things were going to change for the better.

“The purpose of this Open is to unite us once and for all. I’m tired of fights”, specially fights with someone in particular, she thought. “I don’t wanna see any more conflicts, I wanna see close groups and I know you all want that as well, right?”

The crowd clapped their hands and yelled their agreements. The whole point of this Open was to show Simón that she wanted to fix things, that they didn’t need to be enemies just because they were on different teams. It hadn’t exactly worked since he had found out about the Felipe thing, but looking at how happy and excited everyone seemed, she was sure he’d appreciate this gesture, there was no way he wouldn’t.

She proceeded with her speech, explaining how the performances were divided, two groups and two soloists, before presenting the first one, the boys team. Asking the crowd for a round of applause, she called all their names before walking down the stage and towards her sit next to Emilia.

The guys appeared on stage with the crowd’s cheer surrounding them. They all looked great in the costumes she had chosen (obviously), but Ámbar couldn’t help her stare from focusing immediately on Simón. He looked very hot in those clothes. That was the word, hot. Choosing him a t-shirt one size smaller than usual was the best idea she could’ve ever had. The tight black t-shirt accentuated his chest and strong torso _just right_ and her mouth watered. It was so distracting that she almost didn’t notice how he called Matteo up to join them on stage until he saw the Italian climb up and stand beside him.

Once they were all in their positions, the music of “Nadie como tú” started playing.

_Nunca creí en historias del corazón…_

_Estar enamorado para mí era sólo un juego…_

 

Did he just look at her as he sung that? Yeah, he definitely did.

Ámbar found herself following him with her eyes through all the song even if it was another guy who was in the front.

 

_Tú, me haces sentir_

_que esto es el cielo y que en la tierra ya no hay como tú_

_Me tienes así, rogándote please, oh baby_

_I need nobody but you_

 

God, that choreography was marvelous. Marvelous in the way that had him flexing his arms and showing up his biceps every five seconds. Yep, 10/10.

When Benicio came in front he pointed at her, calling her attention, and when her eyes landed on him he winked.

She felt a little bad. Just a little.

When they got to the bridge of the song Matteo froze, apparently forgetting the lyrics. It was just 2 seconds, then Simón continued the song and encouraged Matteo to continue as well, but everyone noticed. She couldn’t help but worry a little. Sure, now they had little to no communication at all and their relationship had ended quite badly, but they still had cared for each other once and she didn’t wish him any harm. Not anymore at least, she had moved on. She hoped these aftereffects of the fall would only be temporary.

_Tú, me tienes así,_

_rogándote please, oh baby_

_I need nobody but you._

 

By the end of the presentation it was like that slip up had never existed. The energy of everyone on stage was contagious and when the song ended the whole audience cheered and applauded, her included.

The boys walked down by the side of the stage, joining their friends on the tables or getting back to work, while Ámbar stood up taking out her coat.

It was time to shine.

 

 

*****************************************************************************************

Simón was a little breathless from their performance, but it was a great feeling. It was the kind of tired that brought satisfaction because you knew you had given it your all and it had been fun doing so.  

He joined the bar along with Pedro and Eric, ready to go back to taking orders and serving tables, when the girls started filling the stage. He turned towards them and that’s when he really lost his breath.

Ámbar was in front of the row with all the girls behind her and she had discarded her long coat revealing a very tight black costume. It was like his brain short-circuited for a moment.

_Wow._

“And now, I wanna hear you clap your hands even louder for all of us!”

The crowd acclaimed as Ámbar put the microphone away and all the girls took their places on the stage. The music started playing then and _god_ , that hip movement was illegal.

_Sé quién soy, quiero una tregua, mi cabeza no da más…_

The more the choreography advanced the more he felt his jaw drop. He was conscious that he was following her every move with his eyes but he couldn’t stop himself. She had always shined on stage, he had noticed since the first moment he saw her, and right now wasn’t an exception. Even the pompons surrounded her, as if her presence alone wasn’t enough to center all the attention.

 

_Mano a mano_

_¿quién es el villano?_

_Soy la que te enseña más_

 

She threw a glance at him and he felt his heart jump. She always sung the parts that talked about being bad, but she looked **_good._** More than good. Maybe he was biased but he could swear she looked the prettiest of them all. And the sexiest, because while all the others were wearing floaty dresses her tight black clothes accentuated all her curves leaving little to the imagination.

The urge to press those curves against his body assaulted him and he had to shake his head to stop those thoughts. _Focus on the choreography_ , he told himself. But she kept looking in his direction with a little smile and it was hard not to look back.  

 

_Buena o mala, siempre señalada_

_Mano a mano estamos hoy._

 

The crowd erupted in applause as the presentation ended and he couldn’t help but clap as well, and with a smile on his face nonetheless. It had been amazing. His competitive side wanted to say that his performance with the guys had been better, but he knew his heart was with the girls. More like with one in particular if he was being honest.

The girls moved down the stage then and Ámbar stayed to face the audience. Seeming a little nervous she announced there would be a little break and asked Eric to put on some music before descending the stage as well. Simón saw her walk towards the dressing room and just two seconds later he was following her. He didn’t really know why or for what, just that he needed to.

She was turning around just as he passed through the door and she collided with him, taking her by surprise.

“Simón”

She looked even more beautiful up close (if it was even possible). He thought of maybe saying it, congratulate her on her performance, tell her she had been great. But just a second after he arrived she asked—

“Have you seen Benicio?”

His heart fell.

It was stupid, really, because she was looking for him for the next performance, it was logical that she needed to find him. But the fact that the first words that left her mouth were about him was like a slap to his face.

It hurt. But it also woke him.

Suddenly the only reason why he could’ve followed her there was clear.

“No, I haven’t seen him. Sorry for not being who you’re looking for but I need to ask you a question”.

Ámbar blinked at how bitter he sounded. She could’ve sworn that just a minute ago he was smiling as he watched her on the stage.

“What?”, she asked, wondering what question it could be.

He looked at her with a serious face.   

“When are you gonna speak with Luna?”

She did a double take. Was he serious right now? Did he seriously just ask her that?

“I can not believe this. I mean, do you _really think_ that in the middle of an Open in which I _participate, present, and organize_ , I can to talk to Luna? For real?”

The sole idea was ridiculous, she had enough on her plate as it was, what was _up_ with him?

“No, of course not. I mean, you always find the perfect excuse, don’t you?”, he accused. It’s true that she was busy, he could see that, he understood that. But he also knew that if she really wanted to talk to Luna she could’ve done it by now, it was only a few minutes of her time.

He saw her shake her head. “No, no, it’s not an excuse Simón, I really can’t right now. Look at me. Don’t you see how I am?”

He knew that she meant that she was in costume and in the middle of a show, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from roaming her figure from head to toe.

Blue eyes that melted him. Clear skin that he knew was soft. Beautiful breasts that fitted perfectly on his palms. Thin waist and long skinny legs that he remembered wrapped around him, holding him as to never let him go.

“Yeah, I see you”, he breathed in a raspy voice. Just like that the itch to touch her was back. His eyes met hers and she noticed, he knew that she noticed, so he cleared his throat and looked away. He couldn’t let her see that, he needed to stay focused.

“I see it, but you could’ve talked to her yesterday, or today before the Open, and you didn’t. You had the chance and you didn’t, so I’m starting to think that you won’t.”

Ámbar took a deep breath. Clearly he hadn’t come in great timing but what he was saying was fair, so she decided to reassure him.

“Alright. Alright, let’s do the following, Simón. I _promise_ you that the moment the Open is over I’m gonna talk to her. Okay?”

He pursed his lips.

“Right. And why should I trust you? Why shouldn’t I just tell her myself?”, he said, and his skeptical tone hurt her. All of his words hurt her.

So, that’s what it all came down to? He didn’t trust her? That’s why he was always pulling away?

She had suspected that, but…

“Simón, ever since I’ve become head of the Roller all I’ve tried to do is reunify everyone, haven’t you noticed? I’m really trying here”, she declared, and couldn’t avoid a little pain to appear on her voice. “Don’t you think that’s enough reason to trust me again?”

Simón looked straight at her, seeking for any trace of lie or deception but he found none. All he saw was genuine hurt at his words and he felt bad for it. She really had made an effort, she had made all this Open so everyone could have fun together like in old times and it had worked.

“You’re right. Sorry.”, he said after some seconds. She did deserve some credit and he did want to trust her, more than anything. But— “But Luna is my best friend, and I need to protect her. I can’t keep on hiding this from her—”

“I know, I know, just—”, she interrupted him, knowing where he was going with it. “Wait after the Open, okay?”

He gave her a grave look and then nodded his head.

“Okay. I’m gonna give you a second chance. But either you tell her, or I will”, he sentenced in warning before turning around towards the door.

No.

No, she couldn’t let him leave.

She had seen the way he looked at her, how his eyes raked her all over as he came into the room. He was once again using Luna as a barrier to not let himself get near, even when it was clear he wanted to.

But she was done letting him run and she was done of waiting.

“What about us?”

The sound of her voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned around to face her once more and saw her eyes boring into his.

“Do we get a second chance?”

Simón felt his heart skip a beat. She wanted to get back tog—

_No, don’t even think about it._

“Ámbar…”, he uttered in a tired voice.

“What?”, she asked defensive against his tone.

He licked his lips, looking away from her. “We talked about this”.

She shook her head. “No, _you_ talked. _You_ said that we should forget about what happened, but I _can’t_ , Simón. And I don’t want to”.

The emotion in her voice made him look at her again. Her eyes looked desperate for him to hear her and as she took a step closer to him he found he was rooted to the spot, her eyes didn’t let him move.

“I know that you think we’re too different, that I’m trying to play with you, but _I’m not_. I’m really not, Simón. I care about you for real. I like **_you_** , not anyone else. I don’t just like you, I… I’ve never felt anything like this in my life.”

Simón could feel his heart racing, he could hear its pounding in his ears and he was tongue-tied. She was looking right into his eyes and saying she felt something big for him. She was speaking from her heart, he could see it in her eyes, in her stance. She was opening herself up to him, being completely honest, and wasn’t that what he always wanted?  Wasn’t this what he always wanted to hear?

It was. It really was, but…

“And even if you try to deny it”, she continued, taking one more step closer so their eyes were centimeters apart, as if he wasn’t drowning in them already, “even if you want with every fiber of your being to believe otherwise, I know you still have feelings for me too. Besides from just plain lust, I can see it. So I have a question for you too: Are you gonna face them straight on? … Or are you gonna tell me again that we’ll never happen?”

As the words left her mouth Ámbar focused on Simón. She had tried to pour everything she felt in this moment, show him how important he was for her, even if it terrified her to take that step. Admitting her feelings left her in a vulnerable position, one she had tried to avoid at all costs all this time, but she had reached a point where she knew it was the only way to move forwards.

She couldn’t keep living in this limbo where one moment things were great and the next they were apart again. She couldn’t keep tasting his lips and feeling his embrace only for him to move away seconds later. She knew he had his reasons, she knew she hadn’t exactly made it easy, but this back and forth wasn’t good for her, nor for him either.

So she gave him a choice: to give her a chance or not, as simple as that. Because she couldn’t stay like this, because she knew it was eating him up too, and because she was hopping he’d want her just as she wanted him.

His eyes flickered with many emotions as they looked into her own. She could see longing, fear, frustration, hope and hopelessness. He just looked at her in silence for what felt like an hour, and then, finally, he spoke.

“I should go, it’s the right thing to do”.

He saw her eyes shine with pain before looking at the floor, but it was the truth. Walking away was the right thing to do, the rational one. She had a boyfriend, had slept with him while still being with said boyfriend, had conspired against his friends, had hurt him deeply before… Everything pointed him to the opposite direction.

His friends had told him countless times to forget about her. To move on, to not trust her.

“But…”

Her stare moved back to his. Those beautiful, _beautiful_ blue eyes that haunted his dreams and every waken moment.

Turn around may have been the right thing to do.

But he loved her.

And he really wanted to kiss her right now.

Closing the one step that separated them he leaned in into her lips, sealing them against his own as he grabbed her waist and held her close to him. Her hands cupped his face as she kissed him back, and as their lips moved together he almost felt like crying from relief. He had been dying to do this, he always was.

As his tongue delved inside her mouth and he heard her moan he could also hear a voice in the back of his mind telling him that what they were doing was wrong. But how could it be wrong when it felt so _right_? How could it be bad if both felt the same?

Her hands threaded his hair and her teeth pulled on his lip and he felt fire on his veins. Needing to feel her more he pushed her backwards against the wall.

How could it be wrong if their bodies molded so perfectly together? If her hands roamed him and held on to him just as desperately as his did her? How could it be wrong if he loved her?

 _Maybe because it’s selfish_ his brain handed to him.

He had never considered himself to be selfish before. He never threw caution to the wind either, he had never been this reckless… but as he felt her curves under his hands and her nails digging on his back not an ounce of him regretted it.  

Maybe she wasn’t the only one who had to change a little.

He let go of her lips and peppered her bare shoulder with kisses like he had been wanting to since he saw her in that costume. It was almost cathartic. The smell of her perfume was intoxicating. He tasted her neck and drowned one of his hands in her hair as the other held her hip firmly.

“Simón”, she breathed before grabbing his face and pulling him to her lips once more and he let her. They kissed with abandon as he circled her with his arms, flatting her breasts against his chest.

They were in their own world where only they existed. Until a voice erupted with a shout.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!”

They sprung apart and both felt their hearts stop when they turned in direction to the sound.

Ámbar was wide-eyed.

“Benicio.”

It’s all she could manage to breath out. Her technically boyfriend was standing in front of them, _furious_ , and with good reason because he had found them in the worst possible moment.

“Ámbar, what the hell are you doing with this loser?!”, Benicio roared as he got closer, towering over her dangerously. His eyes screamed betrayal and she was frozen.

“Hey, don’t scream at her!”, defended Simón by her side, moving in front of her protectively.  

The Italian turned to him with rage. “You don’t have the right to tell me what to do, you son of a bitch!”, he roared as he shoved him with force, making him stumble backwards with his back colliding against of the mirrors.  “How dare you touch my girl—”

He took a step towards him with a all the intent of breaking his face so before he could, Ámbar stood in his way. She planted herself firmly in front of Benicio, placing her hands on his shoulders to stop him from moving forwards in his act of rage.  

“Stop it, Benicio! Your problem is with _me_!”, she yelled, willing him to look at her. “ _I_ was the one who sought him out, not the other way around”.  

Finally the Italian turned to her, his eyes boring into her blue ones with spite. When she was sure that he wasn’t going to lunch at Simón again she took her hands off of him and made them fists at her sides. This wasn’t how she wanted it to go, this wasn’t how she wanted _anything_ to go, but gotten to this point, she had no other choice.

Resolutely, she lifted her chin and spoke.

“I’m sorry it had to be this way, but the truth is that I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while now. I was never interested in having a serious relationship with you. We had our fun, but that’s it. I don’t wanna be with you anymore. We’re over”.

Simón felt like a third wheel as he witnessed their break up. No, not the third wheel, more like the ‘other man’ who came between them and made them break up in the first place. He knew that they weren’t really romantically involved and so their relationship had close to no meaning, but still he realized then that, he _had_ technically taken the place of the lover.

In that moment when he kissed her, he knew she was dating and he didn’t care. He pulled her close consciously disregarding the fact that she had a boyfriend because she had said she had feelings for him just like he had for her and he decided that was all that mattered. His heart was screaming at him and for once he just _listened._

And so, even if now he looked at Benicio and felt bad because he didn’t wish this situation on anyone, he couldn’t help but feel happy that they were done, that she was free.

Did that make him a bad person? Or was that just how love worked?

Anyway he had done something he couldn’t take back, and the same went for her right at this moment.

Simón watched attentively as Benicio clenched his jaw tightly and glared at the blonde in front of him, his heavy breathing showing how outraged he was. His fists were tight as he inched closer to her face and he looked into her eyes menacingly.

“No one plays with me, Ámbar. _No one_. You’re gonna regret this”, he warned her with his voice dripping with venom. “…Starting right now. Good luck finding a new soloist for your stupid Open. I’m out”.

With that last sentence he stormed out of the door with fast strides and Ámbar’s eyes blew wide with panic.

“ _What?!_ No, Benicio, everything’s already set up, you can’t leave now!”

She lurched forward to go after him but Simón stopped her by grabbing her upper arm.

“Let him go, he’s not worth it”.

She turned to him looking desperate. “You don’t understand, this is my first event as head of the Roller, I _need_ it to be perfect. Everyone’s already waiting outside _, what am I gonna do?_ ”

She was holding her head as she started pacing. She looked very upset and he could understand why, this was really important to her.

Which is why he wasn’t going to let it get ruined.

“I’ll do it, I’ll sing.”

Ámbar’s head spun in his direction.   

“Really?”, she breathed out with hope, but just as fast she got discouraged. “But you didn’t prepare anything”, she noted. She loved that he wanted to help her but this was very last minute, what if it went down horribly?  

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll make something up”, he said before cupping her with his hands reassuringly. “You just relax. This Flash Open is already a success and it’s all because of you. Feel proud, bonita. I am”.

As his eyes looked deeply into hers and his soothing words warmed her she felt herself calm down. He was right, everything would be fine, she trusted him. And he was proud of her which made her heart soar.

She wished they could stay like that for longer. She wished they could talk about what happened or kiss some more or just stare into each other’s eyes for minutes straight.

But the show must go on and they didn’t have the time.

She could feel though that he wasn’t eager to run this time. He hadn’t fled the instant Benicio walked in nor had he ran afterwards. He was here, with her, comforting her as his thumbs traced patters on her cheeks and that’s all she needed for now.

With her conviction restored she placed her hands on top of his.

“Alright. Let’s do this”.

They both got out of the dressing room and headed for the stage. Ámbar told him that the laptop had the tracks to all the songs they had ever sung in the Roller so he could choose whichever he wanted as she talked to the audience. He nodded and went for it as she quickly fixed her hair before climbing up the stage to face the audience.

Simón checked the song list rapidly, debating over which one would be the best right now considering he hadn’t rehearsed.

“Hello everyone! I hope you’re all having a great time enjoying today’s performances”, he heard Ámbar say in front of the microphone.  

_Maybe ‘Yo Quisiera’? No, that one without the guitar wouldn’t have much merit. ‘Tiempo de amor’? but that song is from the band, I can’t just sing it alone._

… _Alone_ …

Feeling an impulse rise inside of him he looked up to see Ámbar who started presenting him.

“For the first solo number we have the representative for the boys’ team. He’s a very talented person and someone who I personally appreciate very much”, she said, and just then, as if they were in synch, their eyes met.

It was like for that second everything else vanished but them.  

She gave him a little smile.

And he chose his song. 

“Ladies and gentlemen give it up for: Simón!”

The crowd of strangers applauded vigorously as the regulars of the Roller were slower to react, being confused by the turn of events. They exchanged surprised looks but applauded either way, supporting their friend excitedly. Emilia, who had been smiling thinking Ámbar was talking about Benicio, glared at her when she sat back at their table, clearly not happy with the change. Ámbar just ignored her.

Simón climbed up the stage behind the microphone stand, his eyes crossing briefly with Ámbar’s once more before he ducked his head, closing his eyes as he waited for the song to start.

As the first chords of the electric guitar filled the place he swung the mic stand from one side / to the other  \  before moving it back to vertical | and only then did he lift his head again, as the final notes of the intro ringed out.

Ámbar’s eyes widened.

It was “Solos”.

 

_Puedes en mi confiar, puedes dejar que todo fluya…_

_Ya no hay ingenuidad, no es el momento de que huyas…._

 

_What is he doing?_

Ámbar was struck as he watched Simón moving through the stage singing… she may even call it **_their_** song. She had almost forgotten that that track was there. It had been a long time since they sung it together and she thought they never would again. Now he was singing it on his own in front of all that crowd.

 

_Buscas en mi corazón y confundes eso…_

She was confused. No, not confused, more like shocked. Of all the things he could’ve done she wasn’t expecting him to do this. She had such a mix of emotions that she couldn’t pinpoint one.

 

_Juntos solos contra el mundo, una voz por un segundo_

_En silencio, una mirada, llévame_

_Juntos sin decirle a nadie, tómame yo soy culpable_

_Con un beso, una mirada, llévame_

He was singing to her.

It wasn’t just a hint that only she would understand. At first she thought that since only them, Benicio and Luna knew it was their song for everyone else it would pass a simple performance. But he was looking at her. Not always, he also looked at the crowd, but his gaze was clearly on her so everyone could see who he was dedicating it to. From the corner of her eyes she noticed many people glancing at her, probably wondering what was going on, but she didn’t turn in their direction, her eyes were fixed on him.

_En silencio una mirada…_

_Juntos solos contra el mundo…_

_Wow, wow_

_Juntos solos contra el mundo._

 

The crowd erupted in applause and whistles as the song ended. Seconds passed and Ámbar knew she had to stand to present the next number but he was still looking at her intensely and she couldn’t move.

Simón finally parted from the mic, but instead of descending by the side of the stage he walked forwards, climbing down the front.

Ámbar heard the pounding of her heart in her ears as he stood in front of her, and before she could say anything, he grabbed her hand, pulled her to her feet in one swing, and kissed her right there in front of everyone.

 

 

 

 

 


	5. ... With New Beginnings

Ámbar was so surprised that it took her two seconds to react to the kiss before her lips started moving against his. It wasn’t a deep kiss but it was intense in a way that made her head spin. He had one hand on her cheek, holding it, while the one on her waist kept her against his body. Her hands that had landed on his shoulders moved to his neck. She thought she heard some people scream “ _whoaaah_!” teasingly but she couldn’t care less.

It was just some seconds before he pulled apart slowly, but it left her breathless. Just as slowly, their eyes opened and found each other at the same time. Her hands slid down to his chest and she could feel the hard beating of his heart, reflecting her own, as his eyes gazed into hers. After a couple more seconds of just staring, he smiled, looking both bashful and amused.

“You gotta go to the stage”, he whispered to her in reminder.

Ámbar blinked and shook her head, coming out of her daze. “Right”, she had forgotten about that.

Moving out of his embrace she climbed up the stage and faced the crowd, who were piercing her with their stares. She tried to ignore it and appear as natural as possible, albeit her breathless state.

“Well, we’re on the last presentation of the day. Representing the girl’s team, give a loud round of applause for: Luna!”

The audience cheered as Luna walked into the stage and Ámbar descended it. She looked at her table and quickly realized she wouldn’t be able to go back to it: Emilia was throwing daggers at her with her eyes. Not like she really cared about what she thought, she could do whatever she wanted anyway, but she really didn’t want any problems in her Open so she decided to stand by the side of the stage.

Luna moved in front of the mic and said hello to everyone with a cheerful smile on her face, which soon turned a little confused at the weird expressions that her friends had on their faces. Ámbar could guess by the brunette’s demeanor that she hadn’t seen the kiss from backstage, so that’s why she didn’t understand why her friends looked a little disconcerted. They tried to hide it though, smiling at her, probably to not make her worry before the performance. Luna smiled back and, to Ámbar’s surprise, she thanked her for making the Open Music and praised her in front of everyone.  The blonde couldn’t help but wonder if she would have done the same if she had seen.

“I hope we can all be friends again”, said the brunette with emotion before kneeling on the stage and starting her song.

_No te pido mucho_

_Te pido bastante_

_No te pido nada, solamente tu amor…_

 

Ámbar wasn’t sure if it was possible for everyone to be friends again. She wasn’t sure if that’s what she wanted either, but when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see it was Simón, she found herself wishing it could be true.

Simón gestured with his head before moving behind the bar wall, where all the couches were, getting out of sight. Ámbar stole one last glimpse at everyone before following him. He was standing there waiting for her and they locked eyes when she stood in front of him, Luna’s voice filling the air.

 

_No te pido abrazos_

_No te pido un beso_

_Sólo una mirada, te lo pido por favor…_

Without a word, Simón took a step closer and smiled gently, holding out his hand to her. With her heart pounding, she placed her hand in his and moved forward as well, so they were centimeters apart. He placed his other hand on her waist and started swinging them slowly along with the music.

 

_Si te pido un sueño…_

_Sueño con tu risa…_

_Sueño que tú seas diferente a los demás…_

“What was that?”, asked Ámbar in a low murmur after long seconds. She was scared to ask, scared to speak and break whichever spell had fallen upon him that made him look at her like that. But she needed to.

Simón didn’t stop their dancing as he answered.

“That… was me facing my feelings head-on, as you said”, he muttered as he moved a hand to her cheek, and she couldn’t help but stare at him in awe.

 

_Y veo pasar los segundos…_

_Si estás a mi lado enciendes el sol…_

“Ámbar, I…”, he started with emotion behind his voice, as he looked deeply into her eyes.  "I feel so many things for you that I can’t even deny it anymore. And I don’t want to. I’m so,  _so_  tired of fighting against this. And I still think that it probably won’t be easy but… nothing good ever is”.

Ámbar felt like her heart was gonna burst at any minute. “So, you’re saying… You want to be together?”, she whispered, daring to hope.  

His brown eyes danced with hers.

“I do.”

 

_Si me quieres quédate conmigo…_

_Que los sueños se hagan realidad…_

_Y al fin despertaré, y al fin despertaré …_

 

Simón stood still and held her hands in his. “I want to be with you, Ámbar. I’m done staring at you from afar, I wanna be close to you... If that’s what you want as well”.

She was surprised he even had to ask.

“I do. Of course, I do”, she replied with a little smile, and he gifted her the most beautiful one.

He kissed the back of her hands. “Just, let’s take things slow, okay?”, he proposed, “I feel like, we kinda rushed into this, and I don’t want to make any mistakes. Not this time.”

That sounded logical, but she chuckled because-- “How does kissing me in front of everyone count as slow?”

“… Alright, I wasn’t exactly thinking when I did that”, he laughed. “But I blame  _you_! You’re just too kissable, I couldn’t resist”. She laughed and may have blushed a little, but whatever, she was happy.

He continued. “And anyway, it’s not like I meant keeping it a secret”, he clarified, “… Although, I would wait a little before we tell your grandfather. You know how he gets”.

She nodded. “Yeah, he’ll probably tease us or throw a party. I don’t know which one is worse”. She made a face and he laughed again. God, how she loved his laugh. “And if the Valentes know they may get strict about us living under the safe roof too”, she pondered, “…although it’s kind of late for that”, she added as an afterthought, and they both blushed with a giggle ‘cause, yeah, it was  _definitely_  too late for that.

 

_No te pido mucho…_

_Te pido bastante…_

_Sólo una mirada, te lo pido por favor…_

 

They could hear the sound of applause as Luna finished her presentation, bringing them back from their little world.

“Time to end the show”, said Simón with a sided smile, letting go of her hands so she could go.  

Ámbar nodded, still looking into his eyes and, just because she could, she pecked his lips before moving away. Simón was left with the biggest grin on his face.  

The moment Luna walked down the stage she encountered Nina, Jim and Yam.

“Luna! You sounded beautiful”, exclaimed her best friend, and Luna smiled wide at all of them.

“Thank you”, she expressed, still feeling jittery from the effect of being on stage.

Yam was looking at her weirdly. “Luna, did you see—”

“—how  _amazing_  your performance was? Like,  _wow_!”, interrupted Jim smiling excitedly, maybe too excited, and after both girls shared a glance, Yam smiled too.

“Yeah, I loved it!”, said the blonde.

Luna laughed with furrowed eyebrows. “Your smiles are weird but thank you”.

Nina turned to her. “Luna, there’s something you should know”.

“Sure, just, let me go change and I’ll be right back, okay?”, said the brunette pointing behind her.

“Um—", started Nina, but before she could say anything else, her best friend was gone.

Right at that second, Ámbar stood in front of the microphone for the last time that day.

“Thank you all so much for being part of my idea of this Flash Open. It was great seeing us all sharing the stage… and I have a feeling that this event marks the beginning of a new story”.

Her blue eyes glanced at the bar, where Simón was once again standing beside Pedro, and she couldn’t help but feel a little jittery inside at seeing him smile at her.

“Thank you so much for coming and see you at the next event here on the Jam & Roller”.

The crowd applauded and a chorus of “Jam & Roller!” resounded over and over in joy. Ámbar walked down the stage and was immediately confronted by Emilia, who was staring her down with her hands on her hips.

“Can you explain to me what the _**fuck**_ was that?”, the girl demanded, but kept talking before Ámbar could say a word. “I’ve been _trying_  to believe that this is all part of your plan but Benicio disappeared out of nowhere, he’s not answering my texts, and now you’re kissing that loser and talking about ‘a new story’ or some shit. What is  _wrong_  with you?”

Ámbar sighed deeply. She knew this was coming but she was honestly hoping the peace would last a little longer.

“First of all, Emilia, I don’t have to explain every single one of my actions to you, okay? It’s my life.” She stated firmly. “Second, Simón is not a loser. In fact, he saved me today by singing after your  _dear_  Benicio left right before his presentation”.

Emilia frowned and crossed her arms. “And why did he leave?”

_Because he found me and Simón making out in the dressing room._

“… I broke up with him and he didn’t take it well”, she said instead, shrugging.  

The Mexican looked at her like she was crazy. “You broke up with  _Benicio_ , to be with that _loser?_ And right in the middle of an Open? I mean, I knew you were into him but I thought you were smarter than that Ámbar”. She untangled her arms and looked at her with judgment. “I thought you were one of us but turns out you’re just crawling after some boy”.

The blonde couldn’t help but scoff. “Oh, look who’s talking. You crawled so hard for Matteo I can still see the mark that your knees left on the floor”.

Immediately the stare of the girl changed into a very serious and dangerous one. She took a step closer to the Argentinian, looking at her straight in the eyes.

“Do not test me, Ámbar. And don’t make me your enemy because you know damn well that you don’t want that”.

Ámbar looked back at her, not backing up an inch but also not joining her in her fighting stance. She didn’t want a fight, not because she was scared but because it wasn’t worth it.

“I don’t mean to make you my enemy, Emilia. I’m just trying to live my life”, she declared honestly. She had no interest in purposely going against her, she was just doing what made her happy. “If you don’t agree with my choices then just look the other way, but I’m not going to stop seeing Simón because of you”.

The Mexican relaxed her posture slightly, probably realizing the other blonde wasn’t trying to pick a fight. But she still didn’t seem content.

“What about destroying the Roller? Didn’t you hate them? Didn’t you want revenge for casting you out?”, she asked, seemingly confused by her change of attitude.

She supposed it was understandable, after all, the Felipe Mendevilla thing hadn’t been so long ago. It hadn’t been that long since the last time she cursed them to death, but a lot had happened since then, she had come to realize a lot of things and reflected about what she wanted for her life.

“I think, Emilia, that we wasted too much energy on them instead of focusing on our team, on  _us_. What good does it make to make their lives hell if we don’t do anything with our own?”. That was the core of the matter. At the end of the day they were so focused on them that they did nothing with their own lives. They had lost their team and instead of doing something about it they had screwed with Luna. Ámbar had tried to ruin Luna’s life for years now and for what? What had she achieved?  _Nothing._

“I’m done”, she stated, showing her resolution to her ex-teammate, “I’m not going to ‘plan’ anything anymore. And I would truly advice you to do the same, Emilia”, she told her honestly. They may not had been true friends, but she didn’t wish for her to waste time like she had done.

After saying that, Ámbar turned around to say goodbye to the leaving crowd, leaving Emilia standing alone. For her good, she hoped she would think about what she just told her.

 

 

*************************

Simón stood giving bills and receiving money until all the customers were gone and only then he had the time to change back to his clothes. He went into the dressing room, putting back his shorts, t-shirt and shirt, folded his costume as best he could and left it there. He’d come back for it when it was time to leave.  

Walking out of the room he saw all the guys, who had already changed to their usual clothes, sitting on the couches behind the bar. He moved to join them.

“Hi guys”, he said, as he approached them, making them turn to him.

Yam, who was sitting beside Jim like always, crossed her arms in front of her.

“Well, well, looks who’s here. If it isn’t the new Red Shark”.

Her bitter tone made him furrow his eyebrows, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he sat, taking place between Matteo and Ramiro.

“What are you saying, Yam? I haven’t left the Roller Team”, he stated, clearly confused at her words.  

“But you stab us in the back fraternizing with them, sure”, the blonde replied with sarcasm.  

“Yam”, chided Jim, throwing a look at her friend, but she just turned to her without an ounce of regret.

“What? You’re gonna tell me you’re happy with his new girlfriend?”, she asked, looking at everyone around before zeroing back on Simón. “Should I remind you everything she’s done? That her team has done to us?”

She looked at him indignantly and that’s when he decided he didn’t have to take this treatment.

“Okay, first of all, I don’t think I deserve you talking to me like that. I haven’t betrayed you, any of you”, he asserted seriously, looking at all of them. “I haven’t even crossed words with the Red Sharks, only Ámbar.”

“And that’s not a betray?”, asked the blond with her eyebrows raised and he rapidly shook his head.

“No, it _isn’t_.  Guys…”, he started, looking at everyone pleading them to understand him, “Ámbar is not a bad person. I know she’s done things in the past but that doesn’t define who she is, everyone makes mistakes. I promise you, she’s good. Look at this whole event she just made just so we could all sing together again”.

There was a small silence until Delfi spoke up.

“So, you’re really, like, together now?”, she inquired dubitably, and he didn’t doubt before answering.

“Yes”, he said assertively, not showing an ounce of shame about it because he had nothing be ashamed.  

Immediately a scoff resounded. “Unbelievable”, said Yam, shaking her head. “Out of everyone I never expected something like this from you Simón”.

The redhead once again turned to her disapprovingly. “Yam, don’t be like that. He didn’t switch teams or anything, he’s still with us, he’s still our friend”, Jim reminded her assertively before turning to him with a smile. “And I think it’s romantic, like Romeo and Juliet”.

He wasn’t sure he liked that analogy considering they both die at the end, but he smiled gratefully at her anyway.

Matteo was the next to speak up.

“Listen man, I agree that her idea of uniting us with this Open was a good one and she seems to be acting nicer, but I think you jumped into this too fast. She’s still Ámbar. You can’t just let yourself get fooled again”, he told him looking and sounding very worried, and on normal occasions he would be glad that his friends worry about him, but in this case, he felt kinda offended.

“Wow, thank you for having so much faith in me Matteo, it warms my heart”, Simón told him with obvious sarcasm. Did he really think that he was just falling for her lies again like a fool? That he hadn’t thought this through? Hell, he had been  _thinking and thinking_  for months, berating himself for wanting something he shouldn’t want nor could have, hurting himself in the process. Until recently, when he realized that it wasn’t a great sin what he felt and that he _could_ , in fact, have what he wanted: be with her.

The Italian gave him a look, showing he hadn’t meant it like that. “I trust you, man. Who I don’t trust yet is Ámbar”, he conveyed with a grave look.

“Well, I do.”, Simón affirmed, and then turned to everyone again, resolutely. “Ámbar is good at heart, guys. She just… needed a push in the right direction. And I’m gonna be there for her, to help her, and sorry for being so straightforward but I’m gonna do it even if you don’t like it.” They had been through too much for him to give up now because his friends didn’t agree with it. But…

“I would much rather, though, that my friends support me on this”, he added, looking at them sincerely. He really didn’t want to have any problem with them. The sole idea made his heart feel heavy on his chest. They were his friends after all, and he cared for them.  

After his words, a silence ensued in which everyone shared glances.  

Suddenly, Ramiro raised his hand. “I do.”, he said smiling. “Actually, I think it’s great.”

Yam scoffed and rolls her eyes. “Of course, you do”.

The Chilean threw a look at her at her comment but kept going. “It’s about time the division between teams dies. Especially since The Red Sharks don’t even exist anymore. I don’t know you guys, but I loved singing with all my friends again. I haven’t even realized how much I missed you”.

He smiled at everyone with emotion and they returned the gesture because they had missed him as well.

All but Yam who kept glaring at him.

“So now we’re all friends after one day? Please Ramiro, be serious”, she said like it was ridiculous.  

Jim, by her side, just shrugged. “I think Simón has the right to date whoever he wants”.

The blonde turned around to face her indignantly. “Jim!”

“What? It’s true”, defended the redheaded, making her friend cross her arms.

Nina, who had remained quiet, spoke up for the first time. “Yeah guys, who are we to judge who can be with who? I mean, the matters of the heart are something you can’t control. When love chooses you… “, she shrugged, “there’s not much to do”.

Eric nodded his head. “That’s true”.

He glanced at Nina, who glanced back at him and then both avoided their stares, blushing.

Everyone else acted like they didn’t see that.

“Well, I had my doubts, a lot of doubts, about this Open, but it turned out to be great. And I think Ámbar deserves credit for that”, said Delfi, and Simón smiled at her. He was relieved that they had been able to see things like him.

The only one who hadn’t said anything yet was Matteo. Simón turned to him and after a second the Italian sighed.

“Whatever makes you happy, man”, he conceded, lifting his hand for a handshake. The Mexican took his hand and nodded, glad that he understood.

Right at that moment they heard footsteps approaching and Simón turned to see it was Ámbar.

The blond stood in front of everyone seeming a little nervous, and he couldn’t blame her considering they were all looking directly at her.  “Hi…”

“Hi”, he greeted her with a smile, hoping to ease her tension. 

Jim was the first to speak. “Ámbar, we wanted to congratulate you on this Open”, she said excitedly.  

“Yeah, it was awesome, even if I had my doubts at first”, joined in Delfi, also smiling at her, and Simón could see the metaphorical weight lift from Ámbar’s shoulders. “I can’t believe you did it all on your own”.

“And on record time”, added Eric, clearly impressed.

Ámbar brought her hands to her chest. “Why, thank you. I’m glad you feel that way”, expressed the blonde, seeming really happy that they had appreciated her effort. “And this is just the beginning, there’ll be more surprises along the way”, she promised with a confidence that showed she was sure they were going to like her ideas.

Yam raised her voice then.

“What? You’re gonna make out with another guy next time or…?”, she guessed, and Simón turned his head towards her outraged at the same time that everyone else did.

“Yam!”, exclaimed Jim, scolding her friend, but the blonde just ignored her and remained impassive, looking straight at Ámbar.

She, from her part, stared right back.

“No need. I’ve already got the best”, asserted Ámbar with a fake smile, not straying her eyes for a second. She wasn’t the kind to back down from a challenge and just remain quiet.

The two blondes got caught up in a stare fight that was only interrupted when Pedro arrived.  

“Ámbar”, the drummer called out to her, stopping at her side and handing her some papers. “The documents from VIDIA and the bills arrived.”

Ámbar blinked at him before taking the papers unsure.

“Bills?”, she asked looking at the documents in her hand. “… And what am I supposed to do with these?”

Pedro just shook his head, looking as clueless as her. “I don’t know. I usually just handed them to Gary and he dealt with it”.

The blonde remained quiet for some more seconds before nodding slowly. “Right. Yeah, sure, I’ll handle it”, she assured him.

Quickly, she glanced at everyone and then turned to Simón. “Um… I’m gonna head back to the mansion to get this done”, she told him, pointing in direction to the door.

“Sure, see you there”, he told her with a smile, gesture she returned before leaving.

After she had disappeared through the exit, he faced the guys again who were in the middle of an awkward silence. Simón sighed and stood up.  

“Well, I’m gonna go back to work”, he announced, moving towards the tables, but not before throwing a severe look at Yam for the unnecessarily rude comment she had made.

There were a lot of unfinished juices and food that were left over the tables after the crowd went away. Simón immediately grabbed a tray and started retrieving them and taking them to the bar. He was at it when suddenly a very excited Jazmín approached him at full speed, startling him.

“Simón!!! Here you are, the guy of the moment!”, exclaimed the girl as she stood in front of him and planted her tablet on his face. “Give me  _all_  the details about the return of Simbar, my followers are gonna go  _crazy_!”

“Um… I’d rather not, okay Jazmín?”, he tried to decline politely. He knew how she got with this kind of things but he wasn’t willing to vent his personal life, especially when his thing with Ámbar was so recent and he didn’t want to screw it up.

“Oh, come on!!!”, she pouted pleadingly, not looking at all deterred. “At least tell me who asked out who first? Is this recent or was it going from a long time before? Wait, if that’s the case, was the whole thing with Benicio a cover or did you dated behind his back?”

He was left speechless by her speed questioning and right at that moment, Delfi arrived.  

“ _Jazmín_!”, the brunette chided her friend. “What do you think you’re doing asking stuff like that?”

“Getting a scoop”, she simply stated, looking at her with superiority. “Sorry Delfi, but I got to him first, okay? Find your own drama”. Having said that, she turned back to Simón. “So, you were saying?”

Delfi threw a sorry look at him and they crossed eyes, Simón silently begging her to help him. Two seconds later the Fab & Chic editor spoke once more.

“Well, that’s a shame”, she sighed in a feigned resigned tone. “I was right about to head to this  _huge_  50% off sale of shoes that’s going on in this store you like, but if you’re busy I guess I’ll just go on my own”.

That caught her attention like lightning.

“Wait, sale? What sale?”, she inquired, and Simón got worried that she had hurt her neck by how fast she spun it towards her friend.

“You didn’t hear? It was like, everywhere”, kept going the long-haired, acting surprised. “But it’s very limited time so if you don’t go now you’re gonna lose it.”

Jazmín bit her lip and looked Simón and then back at her friend two times before finally dropping her tablet.

“Well, sorry Simón, we’re gonna have to leave it for another day, okay? Bye”, she said quickly before spinning just as fast and taking Delfi with her towards the exit. Said girl turned her head towards him as she was dragged away and lifted her thumb in success. Simón had never been more grateful to Delfi in his life.

Calming down after that sudden assault, he shook his head and got back to work.

 

 

* * *

 

When Simón arrived at the mansion later that afternoon (he had eaten out with the guys after closing the Roller) the first thing he did was climb up to his room. A lot had happened and all he wanted was to lay down for a little. He left his backpack on the foot of the bed and took out the shirt he was wearing over his t-shirt before throwing himself on top of the mattress, sighing in relief. He closed his eyes and must have fallen asleep without realizing because the next time he opened them it was dark outside. He checked his phone and saw that it was 8pm. He stood up. Tonight was the night The Roller Band moved to the deposit so he had to go there.

Coming out of his room, he was gonna walk down the stairs when he heard a conversation.

“We could all sing together for the first time in like forever. It was  _amazing_ , and it was all Ámbar’s idea!”

Ámbar could hear Luna’s excited voice as she came into the living room. She had been in the kitchen, using the big table to arrange all her papers and also eat something until she decided she could figure out the rest tomorrow. She took her green folder and moved away, meaning to go to her room, and that’s when she heard the brunette’s voice.

As she came near, she saw that Luna was sitting with her parents and grandpa, telling them all about the Flash Open. They saw her arrive and instead of stopping, Luna added more with a smile.

“She organized all this event by herself, it was incredible”, the brunette praised, and Ámbar couldn’t help but smile. She loved being praised.

“Congratulations, Ámbar”, said her grandfather with a kind smile. “I’m very proud of you, granddaughter.”

“Yeah, good job!”, joined in Mónica, also with a bright smile. “Clearly having more responsibilities is good for you”.

Alright, she liked being praised but now they were gonna make her blush.

“Okay okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, alright? It was just an Open, it’s not that big of a deal”, she noted, acting modest because actually  _it had_  been a lot of work. She hadn’t even finished said work, in fact.

“Wait a second, I think I’m not getting something”, declared Miguel before turning to her with furrowed eyebrows. “Ámbar, are you truly taking charge of the Jam & Roller all by yourself?”

She pursed her lips, considering the answer.  

“Well, no. VIDIA supervises me, but it’s pretty much the same as being alone because they never show their faces around the place, so…”, she shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s so true”, agreed Luna, turning to her family. “We’ve never seen them, not even in pictures, not even when Gary left!”.

“Yeah, they just called to see how everything was going”, confirmed Ámbar. That was all they had given her when she took charge: a call. She wondered if they had been as distant with Gary. Probably yes.

“We can help you if you want”, Mónica offered suddenly, and even if she was grateful for it, everything in her immediately jumped against it. She didn’t need help, she could make it on her own. Reason number 1 why she hadn’t called VIDIA herself and was planning to never do it.

“Nooo, Mónica, please. I’m splendid working alone, totally great”, she assured the woman, even if she knew deep down it wasn’t true. She couldn’t show she was troubled, what would that say about her? “Now, if you excuse me, I’m gonna head to my room. Goodbye everyone”, she told them and turned around rapidly before they could keep asking questions and realize she wasn’t sure what she was doing.

Hugging her folder with one hand, Ambar climbed up the stairs and walked in direction to her room, but before she could reach her door, something grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a hallway.

She yelped at sudden the movement and probably would’ve screamed if it wasn’t for the fact that she recognized the smell and the strong chest against which she collided.

“Simón”, she uttered with a scolding tone for having scared her, but it was also mixed with a little giggle so it totally lost its effect. She also didn’t make a move to get out of his embrace.

Not wanting to interrupt the moment, Simón had waited upstairs and was now happily holding her in his arms.

“They’re not the only ones who are proud of you, you know?”, he asked as he held her by the hips, smiling sweetly at her with those beautiful brown eyes.

“You already told me back at the Roller”, she reminded as her free hand played with the necklaces on his chest.  

“Yeah but saying it again doesn’t hurt”, he affirmed with a little laugh. Then he turned more serious, speaking with emotion behind his voice. “Really Ámbar, I’m very happy that you did that, it was nice seeing everyone singing together for once”.

She gave him a little smile before acting pensive.

“Mmm, how happy are you?”, she asked with a flirty look as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He smiled back and returned her look, knowing exactly what she wanted as proof. Without further ado, he leaned into her lips, caressing them with his own.

It was so nice, being able to hug her and kiss her like this that he let out a contented sigh at the contact, moving his hands to her back to hold her tighter. Their lips moved together slowly and her tongue delved inside his mouth just as slow, but as they explored each other’s mouth the kiss turned a little faster, the sensations taking over. Ámbar had her hand on his hair and the one with the folder in his lower back as Simón’s delved in her hair as well, holding it in fists to pull her closer as the lack of air turned stronger.

All of a sudden, he heard a voice approaching from behind.  

“Simón, we’re going to the depos—”

The voice stopped just as they broke apart and turned to it. There were Pedro and Matteo whose mouth had fallen silent when he realized just what his friend was currently doing. Simón and Ámbar smiled nervously, avoiding the gazes of the guys who were standing there with their eyebrows raised.  

“Ah, I see you’re busy”, stated Matteo after that short awkward pause. “Well, if you feel like, I don’t know, rehearsing with your band, we’ll be outside”, declared the Italian before restarting his walking down the hallway. He passed by his side, wiggling his eyebrows once he was behind Ámbar and Pedro followed him, also waiting until he was behind the girl to make a circle with his hand and mouth  _use protection_  beforeleaving with his bandmate. Simón blushed.

After the guys were gone, he looked back at Ámbar, clearing his throat.

“Well, I should probably go with them”, he said, gesturing with his head towards the hallway.

“Mhmm”, she agreed softly, moving her hands slowly up his chest. “ _Or_ …”

Looking at his lips she leaned in and claimed them with her own. Pedro and Matteo could wait, she wasn’t going to let him go now that she was enjoying kissing him so much. Simón couldn’t do anything but kiss her back, after all, he loved doing so. With a tug of her hand on his necklaces, she moved them backwards into what he assumed was her bedroom as her lips savored his.  

Once he heard the door close behind him and he knew they were inside, he pulled back slightly, opening his eyes, and was left startled.

“Wow, what happened here?”

Moving to the middle of the room, Simón looked around. The place had been attacked by black. All the decorations which previously had been pink or white were now dark, and the furniture, even the walls, had black graffities on them as if she had sprayed them herself.

“I re-decorated”, Ámbar stated simply as she left the folder on top of her dressing table. “That old room didn’t represent me anymore”.

He turned to her with a lifted eyebrow. “And _this_  does?”

“What? Is cool”, she defended, crossing her arms. “Kinda punk-rock or something.”

He pursed his lips. “Mmm, ‘Ámbar: the bad girl who listens to rock’”, he said with a mocking tone as he came closer and placed his hands on her waist. He couldn’t help but smile, he knew she wasn’t this.

“Don’t laugh, I  _am_  bad”, she asserted as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m a very,  _very_ bad girl”.

Loving the mischievous glint in her eyes, he answered her flirty smile with one of his own before leaning down to kiss her.

Their lips fused together in a way that Ámbar could only describe as perfect. Every time he kissed her it was like something came over her, something warm and nice that she never wanted to end. Her hands moved back into his hair (god, how she loved pulling it) as her tongue caressed his lower lip, asking for an entrance that he gladly conceded. Their tongues tangled and fought, and his hands moved all over her back as they kissed, pressing her against his chest.

Suddenly, a knock on the door made them move apart again.

“Ámbar?”

The couple looked at each other with wide eyes. It was Mónica.

“Ámbar, can I go in?”

The blonde quickly gestured for him to hide while she called to the door. “One second!”  

Simón spun and headed to the closet, knowing it was big enough for him to hide without a problem. He stood beside the full-length mirror which also had an X over it in spray paint. This place didn’t bring him nice memories, but whatever. It was the past.

Once Ámbar saw him disappear behind the closet’s wall she moved to the door and opened it, standing aside so Mónica could come in. Once she did, the blonde closed the door and turned around, moving to sit on her bed before facing the woman again.

“So? What’s the matter?”  

Mónica pointed beside her. “Can I sit?”

Ámbar nodded, wondering what was this all about.

“I wanted to talk to you about this new job you got, being the head of the Roller”.

“What about it?”, she asked defensively, wishing she could just leave already so she could go back to her boyfriend.

Boyfriend. That sounded so nice.  

Mónica smiled with kindness. “I just wanted to say that I’m here in case you need anything. Especially now that you have this huge responsibility on your shoulders”.

“Thanks, but I can handle it”, she quickly stated with a fake smile. She hated how everyone seemed to think she was gonna fail on her own. Did no one have faith any in her?

As if she knew what she was thinking, Mónica placed her hand on top of hers reassuringly. “Ámbar, I know you’re a very capable girl, I’m not doubting that. But asking for help is not a bad thing, it doesn’t say less of you, quite the opposite. Leaning on others can be a strength”.

The woman added a squeeze of her hand at the end and Ámbar found herself listening to her words,  _really_  listening. She remembered how Ana had also offered to help her the other day and she had been quite cold in her refusal just to not appear weak. She wanted to show that she was competent, but maybe what Mónica was saying was true… even if her godmother had taught her exactly the opposite.  

As she got lost in her thought, Mónica just smiled gently once more and let go of her hand.

“Just think about it, okay?”, she advised and then stood up. “And don’t go to sleep too late, it’s not good for you”.

“I will”, she answered, and as she saw her opening the door to leave, she added, “Goodnight”.

“Goodnight”, said the woman with that same kind smile and then disappeared behind the door.

Ámbar stared at the door until she heard the footsteps behind her.

“She’s right, you know?”, said her boyfriend as he walked out of the closet and towards her. She stood as well so they were face to face.

“I’ve seen how stressed this job has you. I think you could do a little help”, he indicated, moving a piece of her hair behind her ear.

She nodded slightly but didn’t delve further into the topic. Instead, she took his left hand in hers and entwined their fingers.

“I think I could do some kisses”, she declared, moving toward his mouth but he avoided her lips.  

“Nice try”, he grinned, grabbing her by the shoulders to push her away slightly, “but I’m gonna go with the guys and  _you_ , young lady, are gonna sleep. It’s been a tough day and you deserve some rest”.

“Nooo, stay with me”, she pouted, and she looked so adorable that he laughed.  

“Maybe next time”, he conceded before taking her hands in his in front of them, “But what do you say I come for you tomorrow morning and we walk together to the Roller?”, he proposed, and she couldn’t help but smile.  

“That sounds great”.

“Perfect then”, said Simón before kissing her quickly one last time. He moved towards the door and she followed him.

“Goodnight”, he said with a little smile, staring into her eyes.  

“Goodnight”, she said back and watched him open the door and leave.

After he disappeared through the hallway she closed the door and leaned her back against it, biting her lips in a lame attempt at keeping her cheesy smile at bay.

Things finally were working out for her.

 

 

********************************************

Luna had stayed for a long time sitting on her desk, looking at the picture of Sharon and wondering what could’ve gone so wrong for her to end up like that and hate her family so much. She had given up to tiredness after about an hour and was about to lay in her bed when she heard her phone ring. A little confused since no one usually called her at that hour she checked the screen and saw it was Nina. That made her frown, why would Nina be calling her now?

“Hello?”

“Luna, hi. Sorry for calling this late but, you totally disappeared after the Open. I thought you were just gonna change and then you’d be back but you never returned”.

The girl hit her forehead with her hand, remembering it all. “Oh god, Nina, I’m so sorry! I totally forgot you wanted to talk to me. It’s just that this thing with Michel happened and –”

“Wait, what happened with Michel?”, interrupted her friend, and Luna widened her eyes realizing she had let it slip out.

“Nothing! Nothing happened with Michel”, she said rapidly.

“Then why did you name him?”

“I—", she started, thinking of maybe making up something but quickly gave up. “Ugh, I’ll explain tomorrow. I just really don’t wanna think about it right now”.

There was a silence on the other side of the line. “Well, I’m sorry but I’m not sure you’re gonna like what I have to say either…”

Luna frowned, worried by her friend’s tone. “Why? What happened?”

“Did you by any chance heard Simón’s performance while you were backstage?”

The brunette frowned even harder if it was possible. “Um… Well, I was focused on rehearsing my song so at first I didn’t even realize there had been a change in soloist. I pretty much only heard the end of it and I was quite surprised to hear Simón instead of Benicio… especially that song”, she whispered the last part, almost like she was talking to herself, but Nina heard.

“Did you know that song?”

“I heard him singing it once before. I’m not sure where it came from exactly, but I don’t think it’s from the Roller Band”, she answered.

Judging by the lyrics it pretty much looked like Ámbar and him had written it together, but she didn’t know if she should be telling Nina that. Simón had already gotten mad at her once for speaking too much.

“Well, it seems like he wrote it to Ámbar. Or maybe the other way around, but it definitely looked like it connected them”.

Luna’s eyes widened again when her best friend voiced her thoughts.

“… Nina, are you psychic?”, asked Luna a little scared.

“What?”, replied Nina, totally confused.

The brunette shook her head. “Never mind. Why do you say that?”

“Well…”, she was saying ‘well’ too much, “basically, he pretty much sung it to her on stage. Like, his eyes were full on her almost all the time, everyone noticed”.

“Oh wow”, she lifted her eyebrows.

“Yeah, no, that’s not the ‘wow’ part”.

She frowned again. “What do you mean?”

There was a small silence before her best friend started talking again. “Actually, that’s the reason why this couldn’t wait until tomorrow. I mean, it  _could_  if we are strict about it, anything is technically possible even if the percentage of success is low, except, you know, lighting a fire underwater or something else that defies the laws of physics, but I just really thought you should know before you heard it from Ja-Jazmín or some gossip like that”.

Luna blinked. “You lost me on percentage. Ugh, Nina, you’re going in circles, can’t you just tell me what is it?”, she pleaded with a groan of frustration.  

“Okay. So, Simón sang to Ámbar”.

“Okay…”, she said, urging her to go on.  

“And then he walked down the stage”.

“Of course?” He had to go down at some point, he wasn’t going to live there.

“But he didn’t go down by the side of the stage but directly towards her, right in the front”.

Luna closed her eyes and rubbed her head. “Alright, Nina, are you gonna describe me every single step that Simón took? Because I honestly don’t get why it’s relevant—”

“He kissed Ámbar”.

There was another silence in which Luna wondered if she heard right.

“…What?”

“Simón kissed Ámbar. In front of everyone”.

 

 

 

 

......

…

..

.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a month since the last update and I am sooo sorry for it! At least the chapter is long. Sadly, it’ll probably be another month until the next chapter, but after that the updates should get more periodical since my semester will be over. 
> 
> Hope you liked this!


	6. ...With Luna (Part 1)

When Luna came to the dinner table the next morning for breakfast, she found Matteo and Pedro.

"Hey guys”, she greeted them, searching the room right after with her eyes. “Where's Simón? He's still asleep?"

"Totally the opposite, actually”, said Pedro, making the brunette frown.

“Believe it or not, he woke up early", continued Matteo as he took a sip of his coffee. “He left some minutes ago”.

"Simón? Early?"

…

 

* * *

 

Simón sighed contently as he walked to the Roller with Ámbar hand in hand, a huge smile on his face. It was just one of those moments he wished he could capture forever: the sun shining down nicely, the birds singing, the girl he loved by his side... It was a sense of peace he wished he could feel forever.

The blonde at his side turned to him.

"Why so smiley?"

He could've told her how amazed he was by the fact that she existed, but being who he was, he decided to tease her.

"Just remembering how I totally won that toast fight", he shrugged, keeping the goofy grin on his face as he looked ahead.

He could picture the face she made even if he didn’t see it and it made him smile harder.

"You  _so_  did  _not_ , I ate it in the end!", she retorted in disbelief that he just said that, her competitive side coming out.

"Yeah, because I  _gave it_  to you, not because you took it from me", he noted, looking at her with superiority.

She smiled with the same superiority. "Well after that kiss I gave you I didn't see you complaining".

Oh yeah, that had been better than any toast.

"Like I said: totally a win", he remarked with a smile, and he saw her roll her eyes with her characteristic "you're an idiot but I like you" smile.

Soon they arrived at the Roller and Ámbar pulled out the key to open the place. Before she could open the door though, Simón stopped her, opening it himself and holding it for her to pass through. She rolled her eyes with a smile again and walked inside, followed by him. They stood by the entrance, seeing the place deserted since it was so early.

Simón moved in front of her, taking her hands in his and smiled.

"Did I tell you that you look especially beautiful today?", he asked, and she smiled a little embarrassed.

Ámbar had woken up that morning and decided she didn't feel like wearing black. Maybe it was stupid, but Simón was gonna met her for breakfast, she was happy, and she wanted her clothes to reflect that, so she chose a light grey dress instead. She _felt_ lighter, and it was all because of him.

"Maybe it's because you're good for me", she uttered as she looked into his eyes adoringly, absolutely fascinated by being able to be with him like this.

He returned her look, his eyes looking incredibly tender as he cupped her cheek delicately before leaning down to kiss her seconds after.

As their lips moved together, she moved her hands through his back up to his shoulder blades. He hummed and moved his hands down, tracing the curve of her back before positioning them at her hips. His tongue made its way inside her mouth and caressed hers in slow strokes that she returned, raising her hands to his hair. His hold on her hips tightened then, pushing her closer to his body until there was no space, and that’s when she decided it was time to stop.

"Alright, alright, that's enough”, she said as she pulled apart, pushing him away by the shoulders. “It's time to work. Remember we still have a Roller to run".

"Mmm I love it when you get on boss mode", he mused as he crossed his arms behind her waist, totally annulling her tries to move away.

She lifted her eyebrows teasingly. "Ah, so you admit it".

"...Maybe…", he insinuated slowly, making her laugh, and the boy stole one more peck from her smiling lips before reluctantly letting her go.

The rest of the day went smoothly, with her drowning on her usual pile of paperwork, but it was different that day because from her seat she could see Simón working on the bar and they shared smiles from time to time. It was cheesy, but it totally made working easier, even when she still didn't know what to do with some of the files.

Leaning her head on her hand, she took a look around as she tried to figure out what to do with said files and saw Nina talking with Eric. She looked down at her papers which looked like written in old Greek then back at her and decided to swallow her pride.

She stood up from her seat and moved next to Eric, in front of the girl.

"Hey Nina, could you give me your mom's number?", she asked, interrupting a little their conversation but if she didn't say it know she wasn't sure she'd bring herself to do it later.

Nina seemed puzzled by her request, looking at Eric and then back at her. "Um, sure. But, why do you want it?"

Ámbar considered telling her to mind her own business. She didn't want to admit she needed Ana. But she kept repeating to herself like a mantra  _asking for help is not a weakness, is a strength_.

"She um... She offered to help me with the legal paperwork of the Roller and I think I could use some guidance", she finally admitted. She _really_  needed that guidance.

Nina lifted her eyebrows. "Oh. I didn't know she talked to you. Okay, I'll email it to you right now", said the brunette, typing on her laptop.

"Thanks".

The blonde looked to her side then, where Eric was still standing observing the exchange with curiosity.

"...Shouldn't you be working, Eric?", she asked. She was pretty sure he was supposed to be at the bar instead of witnessing her asking for help.

"I'm taking a break", the guy stated simply.

Ámbar looked at Nina then back at him. "A break... Sure", she said sarcastically, knowing what his real intentions were. "Why don't you and Nina talk at another time so I don't give you a  _permanent_ break?", she proposed with a fake smile.

Both stared at each other and then back at her in astounded silence.  

"Sorry, I don't know if you recall, but I'm still the one in charge of this place", she simply stated. She may be trying to be nicer but that didn’t mean she was gonna lay back on her duties, they should know that.

Eric nodded to himself slowly and cleaned his throat. "I'll talk to you later, Nina", he said before moving back to the bar.

"See ya", said back the girl in a small voice. After an awkward second, she grabbed her laptop and stood. “I… I’m gonna leave as well”, she announced before walking away. 

Ámbar watched her go and sighed tiredly. Right after, she heard a voice behind her.

"You could've said that nicer, you know?"

The blonde turned around and saw Simón, looking at her with his hands behind his back.

"What? I  _am_  his boss. It's my job to make sure everyone follows the schedules here”, she defended at seeing the look he was giving her. Then took a step closer and placed a hand on his chest. “And it isn't fair that he's leaving you alone with everything".

He smiled tenderly at that.

"It's fine. I gotta go to the lockers now anyway,  _according to the schedule_ ", he emphasized playfully, making her smile too.

"Mmm I'm gonna miss not seeing you while I work", she mused, playing with his necklaces.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure watching me serve tables is very entertaining”, he stated sarcastically and she laughed. "I hope this makes up for it”.

He finally moved his hands from behind his back, revealing a strawberry milkshake. “My treat".

It was a small detail but she melted inwardly. God, she was so weak lately. …But seeing his beautiful eyes looking into hers, she couldn’t bring herself to mind.

"Well, thank you", she said as she held the coup, playing with the straw while smiling warmly at him.

Simón smiled back and then stole a glance to either side of him quickly, checking for something. After that, he closed the space between them, holding her cheeks as he gave her a kiss.

It was a short thing and then he pulled away, but she already knew it was sweeter than any milkshake.

“See you”, the boy whispered before moving away, leaving Ámbar biting her lower lip to quench her grin.

Giving her head a little shake, the blonde moved back to her working table.

 

***************************************************************************

Arriving at the lockers, Simón got right to work checking the list to see which skates needed maintenance. He turned around, looking for the skates with the specified number. Just as he held them, he heard a voice behind his back.

"I see you're already being all lovey-dovey with the girlfriend that you stole".

Simón turned around with the skates in hand and paused.

"Benicio”.

The Italian smiled his usual cocky grin.

"What? Surprised to see me? You didn't seriously believe I wouldn't come back, did you? I mean, I'm still the best skater this place has, and you won't get rid of me so easily... Especially not after what you did".

The dark-skinned recovered from his surprise and left the skates on top of the table.

"Benicio, I didn't 'steal' anyone, Ámbar is a person who can make her own decisions”, he clarified assertively. But his conscience still made him add more.  “... I do own that we never should've kissed behind your back. That was wrong, and I apologize for it".

There was a silence in which both looked at each other. Simón really felt bad about that so he needed to get it out. Benicio just stared him down for some seconds and then he grinned maliciously.

"You  _will_  be sorry, don't worry. It's just a matter of time before you realize who Ámbar really is. I know she's acting nice for you, but deep down, she's just as bad as me, we're the same".

"You're wrong. Ámbar is nothing like you", he stated firmly, feeling his guilt rapidly disappear.

"Isn't she?”, he asked with his eyebrows raised. “It didn’t’ seem that way when we were plotting things against you guys. Did she tell you that?”, he said maliciously, inching closer to him with his palms on the table. “Did she tell you that she had the idea of changing Felipe Mendevilla's number to ruin Luna's opportunity?"

He looked so confident as he looked at him, so sure that he was dropping a bomb on him that Simón couldn't help but smile.

"Actually, she did".

Benicio's smile fell from his face.

"I mean, technically, I found out on my own. I recognized your handwriting. Then I talked to her and she confirmed it".

The Italian took a step back and shook his head. "That's impossible".

"Oh, but it is. She is very brave, you should follow her example. In _fact_ , she's going to talk to Luna and apologize for it".

The Italian was glaring at him now, looking pissed that his taunting hadn't worked. Simón stopped smiling then and moved from behind the table, standing in front of him and staring him right in the eye.

"Leave Ámbar and me alone. Whatever you try, it won't amount to anything".

With that, he walked past him toward his locker to get the tools he needed, not giving him one more second of his attention.  

When he turned back around, the Italian was gone.

 

***************************************************************************

Ámbar placed her milkshake on top of the table with a smile on her face, once again motivated to keep on working. But as it appeared typical in her life, her calm lasted about 5 seconds before Ramiro and Emilia arrived as well.

“What up, Ámbar? Planning what you’ll do in your next Open?”, asked the Mexican sarcastically as she sat in front of her.

“Hi Emilia, good day, how are you? Well? Me too, thanks for asking”, she replied sarcastically back, wearing her best fake smile. “You know, you should be thanking me, because thanks to my Open people are talking about The Red Sharks again on social media, wanna hear?”

Without waiting for a response, Ámbar unlocked her phone, reading out loud a comment on one of the videos. “’ _I loved seeing The Red Sharks singing with The Roller guys. When is the next Open?_ ’ See? You’re welcome”, she told the other girl as she put her phone back down. 

“Uh, _no_ , because they’re not talking just about _us_ anymore, Ámbar”, noted the Mexican, not happy that they were being associated with the other team.

“Then we could ask the Roller guys to skate with us, what do you think?”, proposed Ramiro, talking for the first time since he arrived.   

Ámbar wasn’t sure it was a good idea.

Who clearly _hated_ the idea was Emilia.

“I’d rather poke my eyes out, Ramiro, you’re not funny. And _you_ don’t even think about it”, she added pointing at Ámbar with an accusatory finger.  

“I didn’t even say anything”, she defended.  

The Chilean pursed his lips, nodding to himself. “Okay. So, what plans do we have for the team?”, he asked, looking at both girls expectantly.   

Ámbar looked at Emilia and then back at Ramiro.

“Um… We’re working on it?”, she asked, not very sure since she’d had too many things on her mind lately to even think about skating.

That answer didn’t seem to please Ramiro. Right as he was about to say something, Benicio arrived at the table like a hurricane.

"So besides a cheater you're also a traitor?”, he exclaimed as he stood in front of them, crossing his arms indignantly. “Why didn't you tell me that you told Simón about the change of Felipe's number?"

Ámbar sighed deeply, saying goodbye to her drama-free day.

"I didn't tell him, he found out on his own”, she clarified in a tired voice. She really didn’t need this right now. “Maybe if you had changed your handwriting like you were supposed to nothing would've happened".

"So Simón knows?", she heard Ramiro said beside her, almost to himself.

Emilia furrowed her eyebrows, turned to Benicio and then back at Ámbar. "Wait, what do you mean with cheater? You told me you broke up with him".

Benicio snorted. "Yeah, but not before sticking her tongue down that loser's throat", he spat with venom.

Emilia’s eyes widened as she looked at the Argentine. "What?!"

"Aaaalright. You know what?”, said Ámbar as she grabbed her folder in one hand and the milkshake in the other, “I'm tired of giving explanations, especially about my personal life. I have  _way_  too much work to be wasting my time. Goodbye", she voiced, standing up and walking away from them.

She couldn’t have _one day_ without any issues, couldn’t she?

 

 

***************************************************************************

Simón was finishing up with a pair of skates when Luna barged in in her usual colorful excitement.

"Simón! I finally find you!”, exclaimed the brunette as she stood in front of him on the other side of the table. “I've been meaning to talk to you since yesterday. I would've come to you sooner but the girls were going on and on about Michel this Michel that and—"

"Michel?”, he asked with furrowed eyebrows, trying to follow the rambling of his friend but totally not getting it. “What happened with Michel?"

"Nothing! Ugh, not you too”, lamented the girl, slapping her forehead before shaking her head.  “Nothing happened with Michel, forget it. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about".

Simón looked into his best friend’s eyes and decided that he couldn’t keep on hiding things from her.

"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you too", he told her.

He hoped Ámbar wouldn't get mad at him for telling her, but he thought it'd be better at this point if he told Luna first, smoothed things over with her and prepared her so it would be easier for Ámbar to talk to her later. That way he could make sure it wouldn’t backfire and turn into a fight between the two girls, he sure as hell knew that was a possibility.

Luna simply nodded her head.

"I know what you're gonna say".

Simón's heart stopped.

"You do? What- How did you find out?"

Had Ámbar told her already and didn’t tell him?

"Are you kidding? Nina told me", stated the brunette as if it was obvious.

Nina? How did she even know about Felipe's number?

"But I mean, it could've been anyone”, continued the brunette. “What did you think? That you could kiss Ámbar in front of everyone and I wouldn't find out?", she asked in a tone that implied he was being silly.

Now he understood everything.

“Oh. You're talking about that".

The brunette laughed. "Of course I'm talking about that! I mean, what's going on? You're together now? Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"Um…”

Before he could figure out how to explain what had happened, Ramiro barged in the locker room at full speed.

"Luna! I'm so glad I found you", exclaimed the Chilean, looking agitated.

"Hey, Ramiro, what's up?", Luna greeted him chirpily.

Ramiro didn’t look chirpy though.

"I want- No, I  _need_   _you_  to know that I never agreed with changing Felipe Mendevilla's number. I told the guys that it was wrong but they didn't listen to me. I should've stopped them but I didn’t dare go against my team, I'm so sorry Luna".

Now Simón’s heart really stopped. 

In front of Ramiro’s worried and regretful gaze, Luna’s smile slowly disappeared.

"... What are you talking about Ramiro?"

_Oh god no, not like this._

The Chilean frowned. "Benicio, Ámbar and Emilia changed Felipe's number so you wouldn't be able to communicate with him", he said simply, but then realized by Luna’s expression that she didn’t know until now. He looked at Simón crestfallen. "I’m sorry, I thought you told her".

"I was going to do it now", Simón replied dejectedly.

The brunette instantly turned to him.

"Wait.  _You knew_? And you didn't tell me?", she asked accusatorily, and she had all the right to do so. 

Simón felt wave after wave of guilt hit him at once, closing his throat, making it hard to swallow.

"I'm sorry. I—"

"Since when do you know this?", interrupted the brunette.

"...Since before the Open”, he replied and watched with pain how his friend’s face contorted in outrage. “But—"

"And you didn't tell me all this time?! Why—”, she started, but then closed her mouth, having answered her own question. “... Ámbar. Oh, I see, you were covering for her".

"No, Luna, it’s not like t—"

"Ramiro, thank you for telling me”, interrupted the girl once again, facing the other boy in the room with a smile, although it seemed fake. “And don't worry, I won't hold it against you".

Ramiro looked between them awkwardly before nodding and walking out of the lockers. Luna moved too, seeming like she was going to follow him out but Simón stopped her by grabbing her upper arm.

"Wait, Luna, where are you going?"

She broke free of his hold. "To join my real friends who don't hide things from me".

That felt like a punch in the gut.

"Please don't say that Luna. I'm sorry. I'm so, _so_ sorry. I wanted you to know, I swear. I told Ámbar to tell you over and over again but she—"

"What does Ámbar have to do with this? You're my friend! And you let her lie to my face about this solo thing in the Open! Why didn't you tell me yourself?"

"Because Ámbar promised she would and I was waiting for her to do it", he replied, because that was the reason. He wanted to let _her_ do it, to take that step on her own.

Luna scoffed.

"You have got to be kidding me. What is  _up_ with you and Ámbar? Why are you giving her so many opportunities suddenly? Actually, why did you even kiss her yesterday at the Open? Last thing I knew you didn't want to get swept into her games. Something must've happened, what is it? Is she manipulating you?"

His eyes widened. "No! Of course not, Luna, don’t say that. We just... We... I mean…"

"What? Speak clearly for once Simón!"

"We slept together", he let out in one breathe.  

The brunette paused for a second.

Two.

" _WHAT_?!", she finally exclaimed, so loudly that he flinched in pain, and also in trepidation of what he knew was coming.

The girl’s eyes looked like they were going to jump out of their orbits as she tried to process what she had just heard. 

"Wha- When- How- Wasn't she with Benicio?", she asked with eyebrows scrunched in utter confusion.

"…She was", the boy conceded defeated, and Luna scoffed again, which made him jump defensively. "It's not like I planned it, okay?! It just happened!"

She shook her head.

"Things didn't just _happen_  to the Simón I knew. Especially this kind of things. Really, I can't recognize you anymore, she changed you".

This time, he shook his head.

"No, don't say that. I'm still me, Luna, I'm your best friend", he asserted with his heart clenching painfully inside his chest. The way she was looking at him made him choke, made anxiety rise because he could see this was going horribly and he had no idea how to stop it.

"I'm not so sure about that”, she answered gravely, “Because my best friend would've told me the truth instead of sleeping with the person who wronged me".

"I didn't know that at the time!", he yelled, the desperation getting the best of him.

"It doesn't matter!”, she yelled right back. “Do I have to remind you all the times she's conspired against me?"

"She's changed”, he told her, but seeing the look she gave him he decided to change his wording. “She's changing. Slowly, but she's going back to her true self, I know it. She's good at heart, Luna".

The brunette’s face contorted in frustration. "Ugh, Simón, are you seriously that blind? Did she brainwash you? You sleep with her  _once_  and suddenly you think she's changed, don't be naïve! She's using you and you're falling for it because of what? Because you still like her?"

"No, because I love her", he corrected.

The girl stood silent once more, his words taking her by surprise. Simón took a deep breath and decided that if he was gonna get her to understand, it was now. 

"She's not using me, and she didn't brainwash me and I'm not blind, I just  _love her_. So I wanted to give her a chance to do things right, I wanted to believe in her, that's why I didn't tell you. And that's why what happened with her happened, because it was stronger than me. It is  _still_  stronger than me, Luna”, he opened up to her with as much emotion behind his voice as he could muster.

"I love her”, he uttered. “Please, understand".

Another heartbeat passed in which no one spoke, but his eyes were begging in volumes that words couldn't. 

She crossed her arms in front of her.

"And you think she loves _you_?", she asked in a skeptic tone.

Simón remembered the smiled she gave him, the way she looked at him, how she told him she had never felt the same way in her life, the way she kissed him, the way she held him…

Neither had ever said the words but… 

"...I think she does", he finally answered.

Luna looked at him in silence. Her eyes showed hurt, betrayal and another thousand things, but as she nodded to herself and spoke again, the rest of her face showed indifference.

"Well then, I hope you're very happy together. You both deserve each other", she uttered with disgust before walking past him and leaving the room rapidly. 

"Luna!", he tried to call after her. It couldn’t end like that, she had to forgive him, he couldn’t lose her.

But she didn’t turn back.

Simón’s heart fell at his feet.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!!!


	7. ...With Luna (Part 2)

Ámbar looked at the hour on her cellphone and frowned.

She had been working in the near park for about two hours before she chose to go back to the Roller, gladly finding that Benicio and Emilia had left. Now she was sitting on one of the couches with her folder on her lap and couldn’t help but wonder where Simón was. He was supposed to be on a break for a while now but he was nowhere to be seen. It’s not like she thought he had to be with her 24/7, of course not, but since she could see Pedro by his own she wondered what he could be doing.

After about 10 minutes of watching the Roller looking for his face, she finally admitted that she simply wanted to see him. She deemed there was nothing wrong with that so she stood up from her seat and went looking for him. It was better a proactive approach than waiting for him to come to her.

She started with the lockers since that’s where he had been working but didn’t find him. She checked the rink next but he wasn’t there either. She was starting to think that maybe he had gone out when she finally found him inside the dressing room, playing the guitar as he sang.

She smiled to herself, listening from the door as he sang the last verse of the song. As the last chord trailed off, she came closer, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind.

"Here you are. I've been looking for you", she told him, leaving a quick kiss on his cheek but he stood up rapidly, freeing himself from her hold and moving to leave the guitar next to the mirror.  

"What? Oh, come on”, she teased him, “if you tell me I can't even touch you when we're alone then this going-slow-thing is not going to work let me tell you—"

"Luna found out”, he said gravely, turning around so he was facing her but avoiding her eyes. “About the change of Felipe’s number".

Ámbar’s smile disappeared.

"What?”, she breathed out, not managing to say much else. That’s when she noticed his tense stance, the slight red in his eyes and the shine that showed he was close to tears. Suddenly she understood why he was singing “Eres”, and she felt her heart break seeing him like that.  “How?"

"We were in the lockers and I was just about to tell her when Ramiro walked in and spat it out. He thought I had already told her".

Ámbar blinked, processing what he had just said. "Wait… You were going to give me away?", she asked taken aback. They had just started this thing together and he was already going behind her back?

He must’ve heard the hurt on her voice because he finally looked at her.

"No, I was going to tell her but not accusatorily”, he clarified with a shake of his head, “I only thought it would be better if she heard it from me first so I'd have the chance to smooth things over with her and she'd would be more willing to listen to you after”, he explained, and even if she wasn’t entirely happy about it, she understood he had good intentions.

“...But it doesn’t matter, because she found out by Ramiro and now she’s furious with me”, he stated with anguish. “She won’t answer my texts, my calls… Luna doesn't want anything to do with me anymore, and it's all because I didn't tell her sooner because I was waiting for you!", he exclaimed frustrated. 

That last part stung a little, but more than that, Ámbar couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

"Luna turned her back at you? But you didn't do anything!", she exclaimed outraged. Could she be mad? Sure. But completely ignoring him? He didn’t deserve that.

"Exactly. I didn't do anything”, replied Simón, remorse clear in his voice. “I found out about it and I didn't tell her. I kept quiet and now I fear she'll never trust me again", he expressed deflated, letting his weight fall back into the chair once more, looking down at his hands.

The blonde shook her head. He was berating himself and she hated it.  

"That's not fair. Yes, you didn't tell her but, it has been what? Two days? It's not like you've known for months. It was just a small secret, she can't be that mad at you for that. I mean, how many other things you've done for her? A thousand. _Hell_ , you came from Mexico just for her! What has  _she_  done for you?"

Simón shook his head, looking up at her. "One doesn't do things expecting something in return, Ámbar".

"No, but she could at least appreciate all you've done for her", she retorted, and he just looked down once more, not saying anything.

Clearly he didn’t see things like her. He wasn’t going to turn this on Luna, he was too good to do that, and felt too guilty. Deep down, she understood. Luna was his best friend and he felt he had let her down by being dishonest, something he hated to do, but he had done it, for _her_.

After some seconds of silence, the blonde spoke up. "I'll talk to her”, she declared. It was the least she could do.

The boy snorted bitterly.

"A little late for that, don't you think?", he told her sarcastically, resentfully, and even if she understood what he was feeling, she couldn’t help but jump defensively.

"I told you I was busy with work. And then let me remind you that you did a great job at distracting me", she pointed out, giving him a look. Yes, she had promised to talk to Luna after the Open, but could he really blame her for forgetting after everything that had happened during _and_ after it?

Simón averted his gaze again. She could literally see the guilt eat him alive in one instant and she felt like slapping herself. She hadn’t meant to make him feel worse. Damn it, this wasn’t even his fault to being with! 

She opened her mouth to say just that, but he turned to grab his guitar before she could.

"I...”, he trailed off as he looked at her, seeming unsure. “Sorry, I- I wanna be alone right now", he said finally with a shake of his head.

He didn’t look at her again as he left the room.

Ámbar watched frozen as the door close, separating them. She stayed in place, promptly sitting on the chair where her… boyfriend? (could she still call him that?) had sat just a minute ago.

Looking at the mirror in front of her, she wondered if maybe she just wasn’t destined to be happy. After all, every time things seemed to be going fine for her something happened that made it all go down the drain.

No, not everything was lost yet, she told herself. After all, he hadn’t said anything about breaking up. He wasn’t happy, that much was clear, and he wanted time on his own, she could give him that. She’d give him space as long as he came back to her side.

Leaving the dressing room, she moved to the couch where she had left her stuff and pulled them up, gathering them in her arms. She looked to her left and saw Simón, taking orders and moving back to the bar, his characteristic smile nowhere to be found and his guitar forgotten on the stage.

That’s when she decided she wasn’t gonna let that continue like that.

Decisively, she hung her purse over her shoulder and walked out of the Roller once more, no doubt of her step ‘cause she was on a mission. She had made a promise, and maybe it was late, but she was gonna fulfill it.

Luna Valente was gonna hear her out.

 

* * *

 

Ámbar was ready to go all the way to the brunette’s bedroom, but right as she crossed the mansion’s front door, she realized it wouldn’t be necessary.

"Luna".

The girl, who was sitting on the entrance couch with her face hidden behind her hands, looked up when she heard her name. The moment her eyes set on the blonde, she groaned loudly, taking her purse and walking away.

"I don't wanna talk to you", she declared spitefully, but Ámbar grabbed her arm before she could get very far.

"Well, too bad, you're gonna have to hear me anyway", she stated with a fake smile.

The brunette broke free of her hold and glared at her. "I don't  _have_  to do anything, this is my house and I can go wherever I want".

She once again tried to move away only for Ámbar to stand in her way, fake smile gone.

"Are you seriously going to be mad at Simón when it was  _me_  who did the wrong thing?", asked the blonde, trying to make the other girl see reason.

"I told you I didn't want to hear you", stressed Luna almost growling before walking past her.

"Like you didn't want to hear Matteo until he fell off that fence?"

That made the brunette stop in her tracks.

"Emilia told me how you regretted it”, spoke the blonde to the other girl’s back. “What if something happened to Simón right now? Would you still say the same thing?"

It was ten seconds of nothing.

It took that long before the brunette turned around begrudgingly with her arms on her hips. Her face still showed anger, but she wasn’t moving away.

Ámbar took it as her cue to speak.

"Listen, Luna...”, god, how did she even start this? She hadn’t thought about it before barging in. “If Simón didn't speak with you was so I could do it. He told me to talk to you many times but being in charge of the Roller was a huge workload and I couldn't find the time... and I also wasn't very eager to do it, to be honest. But here I am".

The brunette lifted an eyebrow at her annoyed, urging her to get to the point.

The blonde closed her eyes and sighed.

"I know that what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have changed Felipe's number. But you gotta admit that skating outside the Roller and stealing all our audience was wrong as well", she told her, pointing a finger at her. 

"We didn't do that on purpose, people came on its own", defended the brunette, speaking for the first time in like a whole minute.

"Yeah, but it still _happened_ and we lost our team because of that", remarked the blonde, feeling the resentment re-emerge.

"Because Gary didn't let us in!", exclaimed the Mexican in outrage.

"Well, whatever Gary did isn't our fault either!", exclaimed right back the Argentinian. 

Luna’s mouth closed and she crossed her arms in front of her.

In other circumstances, Ámbar would’ve felt proud on how she shut her up, victorious even. But she wasn’t looking to annoy Luna at that moment. On the contrary, if they ended up fighting it’d only make things worse for Simón.

"The thing is…”, she said, getting back to the point, “I was angry. I was pissed off with you because I felt like it was your fault that I lost a huge professional opportunity. So I thought it was only fair for me to ruin an opportunity for you”, she admitted. Saying it out loud like that it sounded so calculated, so cold, as if it was a simple exchange instead of something serious. Ámbar looked down.

“...But, you didn't do it all on your own, and it wasn't your intention. My thing was intentional and it was wrong”, she said, realizing—no, _admitting_ to herself that the conditions of their faults weren’t the same. There was a difference between accidentally hurting someone and doing it on purpose. She knew that, had always known that, but had always convinced herself that Luna deserved it.

She didn’t.

Deep down, she had always known.

Taking a deep breath, Ámbar prepared herself to say the one word she never thought she’d ever say to the girl in front of her.

“Sorry".

The brunette couldn’t hide a hint of surprise.

Slowly, she unwrapped her arms, letting them hang at her sides. A silence stretched between the two girls as they looked at each other, one waiting as the other searched for any sign of deceit.

She found none.

"Well”, pronounced slowly Luna after a moment, “as much as I appreciate the apology, Felipe's number is still lost", she noted a bit resentfully.

"No, it isn't. I still have it".

Now the Mexican’s eyes really enlarged in surprise.

"You do?", she asked, and Ámbar plunged her hand inside her purse.

"Yeah, here".

The blonde took out the piece of paper and extended her arm, holding it out. Luna moved her hand to grab it from her but Ámbar pulled her hand away before she could.

"Please, talk to Simón".

The green eyes of the girl flashed with irritation. 

"You're not gonna give it to me unless I do?", she guessed, clearly expecting to be manipulated.

It was very tempting, Ámbar had to admit. If she made it a condition she could easily ensure she’d give Simón a chance, which was pretty much all the girl wanted. The old Ámbar wouldn’t even hesitate, but—

_One doesn’t do things expecting something in return, Ámbar._

"No, I'm gonna give it to you anyway because it's the right thing to do”, the blonde declared, extending the paper once more and letting the distrustful brunette take it from her this time.  “But I still want you to talk to Simón. Please. He feels terrible Luna, and it wasn't even his fault, it was mine”, she tried to appeal, putting feeling behind every word.  

Luna stared at the paper and then folded it back, tucking it in her pocket.

"He chose to lie, you didn't force him".

"No, but he did it for me”, she argued with emotion, still amazed by that fact. “He did it because he sees good in me, even when no one else does. Even when sometimes  _I_  don't. He sees the good in people, you can't hold that against him, it's who he is… He's great like that", she added last with a half shrug and a smile she couldn’t help. That was Simón, sometimes too good for his own good, sometimes too convinced he was in the right for her own patience, but he was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

The brunette’s eyes observed her face before speaking.

"You really care about him?"

Ámbar couldn’t stop a little chuckle.

"Would I be telling you all this if I didn't?"

Luna shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe you're still trying to manipulate him. Maybe all of this is another one of your plans against the Roller".

The blonde looked at the girl in front of her with new-found respect.

"...I turned you into a skeptic. I'm kinda proud of that”, she appraised. “But no, this isn't anything like that. I understand if you don't believe me, but I really care about Simón. And that's why, I beg you, talk to him".

The Mexican seemed conflicted, looking at everywhere and everything but the girl in front of her.

“Later”, she finally murmured, and before Ámbar could retort, she added, “Thank you for the number, albeit a little late".

The Argentinian gave the smallest of smiles.

"I'm sure Felipe still wants to meet you, just call him", she proposed kindly. 

The brunette nodded but said nothing else.  

After some seconds of just standing there, the blonde concluded that the conversation had come to an end. Clearing her throat, she decided to dismiss herself.

"I, um, I'm gonna head to my room now, I have tons of work to do", said Ámbar pointing behind her towards the stairs. She took a step in that direction but then reconsidered, looking at the other girl once more.

“Think about what I said”, she asked, and with that, she walked away.  

She was half-way up the stairs when Luna’s voice made her stop.  

"Ámbar".

She spun her head toward her.

"Don't hurt him again".

Those words took her by surprise.

Although, all things considered, they probably shouldn’t have.

Ámbar looked into the brunette’s pleading and yet piercing eyes.

"I don't want to", she muttered, and it was the most honest thing she could say.  

For much as it pained her, she couldn’t promise she wouldn’t hurt him. She probably already had by not keeping her previous promise, and she had no confidence that she wouldn’t do it again.

But her words had a different promise:

She would try her very hardest not to.

Both girls stared at each for another long moment. Then, without further ado, Luna turned in direction to her room, disappearing on the other side of the house.

Ámbar watched her go and finished her way to the second floor. Once inside her room, she sighed.

She hoped that what she had just done would help even if just a little.

 

 

 

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

Simón didn’t want to think.

He tried to focus on work for the rest of the afternoon, doing the tasks as mechanically as possible. Take order, make it, deliver it. Don’t think, just execute.

It almost worked. But every time his phone vibrated with a notification and it wasn’t from Luna it all came crashing down at him: Ramiro spitting out everything, Luna’s betrayed expression on her face, the disgust with which she told him to stay with Ámbar…

Ámbar. Another thing he didn’t want to think about. And he didn’t want to think about it because he didn’t know _what_ to think. Or feel, for that matter.

How could you want to yell at someone and at the same time want them to console you?

If only she hadn’t changed that number, he kept thinking. If she hadn’t messed with Luna in the first place nothing would’ve happened. If only she had talked to her like she promised nothing would’ve happened. Why did he have to pay for that?

But that wasn’t fair. _He_ was the one who kept quiet, and he kissed her and held her albeit all that.

He felt disgusted with himself.

But he _shouldn’t_ feel disgusted, didn’t he have the right to love and be happy? Ámbar had done something against Luna, not him.

No, no, it was selfish to see it like that.

But it was just a mistake she made, he still believed she was good.

 _Well, if she’s so good then why didn’t she just talked to Luna like she told you she would?_ Taunted the resentful voice in his head.

 _“And you think she loves you?”_ , taunted Luna’s voice right after.

Simón groaned and threw the cloth over the bar’s table.

He really, _really_ didn’t want to think.

 

* * *

 

The moment he arrived at the mansion he went directly to the deposit. The guys were already there and stopped their chat when they saw him arrive.

“Hey, Simón, what’s up?”, greeted Matteo with a smile.

The boy just walked around the room, hands in his pockets and head down.

The other boys glanced at each other with a frown before looking back at their friend.

“What happened?”, asked Pedro concerned.

Standing in front of his friends, Simón sighed and opened his mouth to speak, needing to get it out of his chest, to have someone listen to his side of things.

Sadly, the one person he wished would hear him the most wasn’t answering.

“Remember when Felipe Mendevilla came to the Roller and he gave me his phone number?”, started the Mexican, to which his friends answered with a nod. “Well, Luna wasn’t there at that moment so I left that number in the bar and the Red Sharks grabbed it and changed it for a different one. So when Luna talked to his secretary it wasn’t really his secretary, it was someone else posing as her.”

Both boys stared at him in disbelief.

“ _What?_ No, no, this is too much”, expressed Matteo, shaking his head in indignation. Pedro nodded, his face showing the same.

“How did you find out?”, he asked.

Simón recoiled internally. _This is the part where they hate me._

“Back before the Flash Open I noticed Benicio’s handwriting was the same as the supposed number… then Ámbar confirmed it to me”.

The boys frowned as they processed that, once again looking at each other and then back at the dark-skinned.

“Wait, before the Flash Open?”, asked Matteo like confirming he hadn’t heard wrong.

“How long before?”, wondered Pedro, giving him a pointed look. Simón immediately understood what he was really asking and felt a jab at remembering Luna’s words.

_My best friend would’ve told me the truth instead of sleeping with the person who wronged me._

“Not that long”, he answered to correct what he was probably thinking without saying the actual words since Matteo was present.

Said boy was still looking at Simón like he couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing.

“But at the Open you…”, he trailed off, not really needing to finish the sentence since they all knew what he was talking about. The judgment in his face and voice was clear, which made the Mexican close his eyes with a grimace.  

“I know”, he uttered before opening his eyes again. “I know what you guys think but, I spoke to Ámbar, okay? It’s not like she did it just for fun, she was hurt and reacted badly. Which doesn’t it was okay but… anyway, I told her to tell Luna the truth herself so she would have a chance to fix her wrong and she said she would but she didn’t and today Ramiro told Luna before I could”, he recounted sadly. Disheartened, he moved over to the middle couch, feeling the energy leave him just by remembering how badly it all had gone down. “Now Luna’s angry at me for not saying anything to her”, he let out before dropping on top of the piece of furniture.   

“So that’s why Luna was sad today”, mused Matteo, seeming deep in thought.

Simón turned to him.

“You talked to Luna?”

The Italian nodded. “I met her on the way to the Roller… She looked pretty bad”.

Those words broke him more than he already was.

“I screwed up. I screwed up big time”, he lamented, bringing his hands up to his hair. “She’ll never forgive me”.

Pedro placed his hand on his left shoulder. “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. You had good intentions”, he said, trying to comfort him.

“That’s what happens for trusting Ámbar”, remarked the Italian on his right.

“Shut up, okay, Matteo?”, requested the Mexican, not liking at all that he spoke like that.  

The boy only shrugged. “Sure. But I mean, I told you so, you can’t say I didn’t”, he remarked again in the same knowing tone.

Simón snapped his head towards him.

“I said _shut up_ ”, he nearly growled. “Ámbar was gonna do it, okay? She just didn’t have the time”, he claimed defensively.

There was a small silence before Pedro spoke, using a soft voice.

“Didn’t have the time in three days? …Sorry, man, but I gotta agree with Matteo on this one”, he commented, as if it pained him to cause harm but needed to say it.  “If she wanted to, she would’ve had”.

All the dark-skinned could do was look down and remain quiet.

A part of him thought the same, even if he didn’t want to admit it.  

 _Ámbar’s good_ , said one side of his heart.

 _She failed you_ , said the other. _Again._

A nudge on his shoulder brought him back from drowning in his thoughts.  

“Wanna play something?”, asked Matteo softly, handing him his guitar. Simón knew it was his way to try to cheer him up. He accepted the instrument, pulling it to his lap while his friends took place with their own instruments.

Music may not be the cure to his problems, but it had never let him down.

…

..

.

 

* * *

 

The next morning was like any other.

Simón woke up along with the guys, they took turns to use the bathroom the Valentes had facilitated for them, dressed and went to the kitchen to grab breakfast. Through it all, the guys joked and fooled around, never mentioning the topic they had discussed the previous day and the Mexican was thankful for it.

Walking into the mansion, the boy got nervous thinking maybe Luna would be there. He was divided between hoping he’d see her so he could try to speak to her and scared that if he did she would just plainly ignore him, or worse, tell him to get the hell out of her house.

Okay, Luna wouldn’t do that, he was exaggerating. But his heart still quickened anxiously as they made their way into the dining room.

She wasn’t there.

His heart fell a little thinking she probably had left early just to avoid him, but he forced himself to shake that feeling immediately. Instead, he helped the guys put the table and served himself breakfast, his stomach growling for some much-needed food.

Once sited at the table, he found his eyes straying towards the stairs. There was no point in it though, he knew Ámbar probably had already left. After their conversation the previous day, they hadn’t talked again, not even through text, and the boy felt bad about it but he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t feel like acting as if nothing had happened, but even after one night of sleep he still didn’t know _how_ to act with her.

Judging by how his eyes kept glancing at the stairs even when he knew she wouldn’t appear, he still wanted to see her. He would always want to see her, he figured by that point, since no matter how much she hurt him in the past that had never changed.

He didn’t know if he liked that hold she had over him. Sometimes he did, but sometimes it was scary. He was too invested in something that could easily crash and break into a million pieces, breaking _him_ in the process. If only he felt like they were _both_ taking that leap. Most of the time he felt like he was neck-deep into the water while Ámbar was comfortably watching the waves from the shore.

“Alright, Simón, let’s go!”, urged Pedro suddenly as he stood quickly from the table and moved towards the door. “We’re gonna be late”.

Matteo also stood and followed the drummer out and that’s when the Mexican realized that between all his thinking his friends had all finished eating. Shit.   

“I’m going!”, called back the dark-skinned as he rapidly threw the last bite of his toast into his mouth. He swallowed fast and then went for his coffee, pulling it to his lips and downing it in one gulp.

Right as he stood up his phone vibrated.

He almost didn’t check it, deeming it could wait. He had lost count of the number of times he had read a message hoping it was from Luna and it never was.

With an internal shrug, he checked the new message anyway, already preparing himself to be disappointed. But as he unlocked the screen, four letters in bold met him making his heart jump.

_It was from Luna!_

His eyes enlarged as he avidly read the text.

**_Luna:_ ** _Today, after the Blake. I’ll meet you in the park._

Simón felt a weight lift from his shoulders, even if he was still worried. She hadn’t really answered to anything he said on his 20 texts but at least she was willing to talk to him. Now it was up to him to put all his energy into convincing her to forgive him.

They’d been best friends since they were little, they had gone through a lot together, it couldn’t all just end like that. At least, he thought determined, he wasn’t going to let it.

With that in mind, he put his phone in his pocket and followed the guys outside the house.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry late christmas! lol


	8. ...With Amends and Breaks

Ámbar wouldn’t admit it, but she had stared at him that day.

That morning at the deposit, before everything else had gone down, she had woken before Simón. She was an early riser after all, so her eyes opened at some point in the morning and realize she was in his embrace, his arms wrapped around her waist holding her close to him. Not like there was much space to go to anyway, the couch barely had space for both, but the way he was hugging her almost like a pillow melted something deep inside her.

She took a moment to observe him: the fall of his long eyelashes, the shape of his nose, the way his mouth was slightly opened which made him look kinda funny but adorable nonetheless, his chin dimple, the shape of his neck and the lump of his adam’s apple. He was beautiful.

Ámbar didn’t dare move in fear of waking him. She knew the moment he woke up they’d have to face what had just happened, and she wasn’t sure what look awaited her when his gaze finally fell on her again. So she just moved closer, nestling her head against his chest and let his scent and calm heartbeats lull her back to sleep.

She didn’t know why she remembered that when she woke up. After all, the cramped and dusty deposit was nothing like her large bedroom, but still it was the first image that came to her mind as she shifted under her covers. Maybe it was because she had fallen asleep thinking of him that she was thinking of him again. Maybe she had even dreamed of him and now just couldn’t remember.

The alarm of her cellphone set off, interrupting her thoughts. The blonde moved her hand over to her nightstand to stop it, wondering not for the first time why she even bothered to put on an alarm if she woke up before it. She sat up in bed and ran her hand through her disheveled hair, feeling rested but not really energetic albeit that.

Either way, the day wasn’t going to stop just because she didn’t feel up to it, so she slid her legs to the side of her bed and stood, walking to her bathroom for her daily shower.

Once out and dry, she approached her closet, and while the day before she had taken her time to choose her clothes, that morning she just grabbed the first black garments she found, a strappy v neck t-shirt and shorts. Black was always flattering anyway, it didn’t matter. She put on black boots and stared at herself in her closet mirror. She looked good, sure. But inside she felt so… uncertain.

She grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair up in a ponytail, something she hadn’t done in a while, testing it out. She was testing a lot of things out lately: honesty, kindness, this whole ‘changing her ways’ thing although she didn’t really know what she was doing. She knew she was doing the right thing, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that behind her defenses and walls she didn’t know who she was.  

Shaking her head, she rid her mind of those thoughts and got moving, realizing she was wasting time. Lifting her phone off the nightstand, she dropped it into her purse and walked out her room, closing the door behind her.

 

* * *

  

She had only been in the Roller for a couple minutes when Eric arrived. She may have scolded him the other day for slacking, but the truth is that he was always right on time for work, even early. The pale boy greeted her shyly when he saw her, sited in one of the couches by the entrance with her green folder opened on her lap. Ámbar returned his greeting with a smile, trying to show the boy that she was no threat and therefore didn’t need to be so scared. There was a part of her that enjoyed it, she had to admit, how he seemed intimidated by her, but seeing that he had already received enough scolds from Gary to last him a lifetime she decided to ease the poor boy. Eric’s stance relaxed, forming a small smile on his own as he got to work.

It was some time later when the other guys arrived. Ámbar had been focused on something else but the moment she felt their voices she immediately tensed, lowering her pen.

Pedro walked in first, followed by Matteo who apparently had decided to accompany them that morning. Simón entered last, joking along with the boys, but the moment he crossed eyes with her he fell silent, his smile dropping slowly as he came to a halt. Just like that, the conversation died out.

He was also wearing black, Ámbar noticed, a black shirt over regular jeans. _Black is definitely flattering,_ she thought. Too bad she couldn’t appreciate it over the utter awkwardness that fell upon them.

Pedro and Matteo felt it instantly, and with just a glance between them, they kept walking, going each to their own. The blonde didn’t pay much attention to them either way since she was frozen in the stare of the boy in front of her.

“Good morning”, he muttered low with his hands together in front of him, his fingers fumbling with one of his rings.

“Good morning”, she replied, not knowing if she should add anything else and try to make conversation or if she should just follow his lead.

Scared of how the first one would go, she opted for the second option, even when she was dying to say a lot of things, _anything_. Dying to touch him, hug him, whatever it took to shake that weirdly neutral expression he was wearing off his face. That wasn’t him, he was meant to smile, smile and light up everything around him as only he could.  

He rubbed his hands and then ran them through his hair slightly, a clear sign that he felt as nervous as she did. The silence stretched for a second too long to be natural (who were they kidding, it hadn’t been natural from the beginning) and then he took one step forward, looking at her unsure.

“Um, could I have a break this afternoon?”, he asked, and she barely had time to look confused before he explained, “Luna texted me to meet her after the Blake”.

The blonde’s eyes widened. In truth, she felt a little sad that he was only talking to her out of duty to his work, but she was relieved and happy for him. It seemed her conversation with the brunette had worked for something, thank god.

“Of course”, she said immediately once she got over her surprise. She knew how important it was for him. “Just, make sure the guys divide the work while you’re out, but there’s no problem”.

Some of the boy’s tension left him when he heard that, but the uncertainty in the air was still palpable between the two as he nodded.

“I will”, he agreed, and again she hated how formal it all sounded.

A heartbeat later, a small “thanks” left his lips, the corner of his mouth lifting the slightest bit as he did so. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was something.

The blonde gave him a small smile in return, hoping it wouldn’t look as awkward and yearning as she was feeling. She really wanted to close the distance between them, but was afraid that if she pushed him they’d end up fighting.

With one more nod from the dark-skinned’s part, the eye-contact was broken and he left to start his chores. Ámbar watched him go and left her shoulders fall with a sigh. _Patience, Ámbar, you told yourself you were gonna give him time._  

Easier said than done, clearly.

With a huff, she shook herself out of it and sat upright once again. She had work to do. She clicked on her pen and continued filling forms.

 

 

*********************************

 

 

Simón berated himself for being taken by surprise. He knew Ámbar would be in the Roller, he knew he had figure out a plan of action for when he saw her, but Luna’s message had made him momentarily forget all of that, leaving him staring at her like an idiot when he walked in.

The fact that she had her hair pulled up didn’t help. It was such a small detail but it made her look endearing somehow, younger, softer, not the kind of girl who would conspire against people and break promises, but alas, she was.

He had managed to survive the awkward exchange, thank god. He didn’t know what reaction he had been expecting from Ámbar but seeing her remain so calm somehow disappointed him. She hadn’t even mentioned what had happened between them, hadn’t tried to talk to him or apologize and it made him feel a little like she didn’t care enough to try to fix things. Which was totally unfair and ridiculous because _he_ hadn’t tried to talk about it either. But…

“ _And you think she loves you?”_

Simón shook off that feeling again, that image of water up to his neck. He had other things to focus on, making up with Luna being number one. And he had a job, and a life, he wasn’t gonna let it be consumed by worrying thoughts.

The day went quietly in the Roller. There weren’t many customers but enough to not be considered bad for business. That’s why it didn’t surprise him when he saw Pedro and Eric talking with Nina and Matteo in the couches, but it did call his attention how they seemed to be very excited about something.

“Hey, what’s up?”, asked the boy as he approached the group. “Why so happy?”  

“You didn’t hear Luna’s message?”, asked Pedro excitedly, and the confusion and slight hurt must have been evident in his face because the drummer sobered instantly, probably feeling bad for forgetting the situation. “Luna got in contact with Felipe Mendevilla and she says he has an amazing proposal for the team”, he explained. 

Simón was still confused at hearing that. Not for the not-receiving-the message part, he knew Luna and him hadn’t fixed things yet and that’s why she didn’t tell him. He was confused as to how she had contacted Felipe.  

But he only pondered about that for a second and then threw it aside. It didn’t matter, one didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, everyone seemed very happy for the news and he was as well.

“That sounds great”, said Simón smiling. “Do you have any idea of what it is?”

“Not yet”, answered Nina, “Luna said he’ll meet her tomorrow to give her details”.

“We were just speculating on what it could be”, added Eric.  

“Being such a remarkable skater, whatever it is it must be awesome”, appraised Matteo, his eyes shining with possibilities.

“Yeah, right?”, agreed Simón, but found his smile faltering. “…I’m glad to hear that he’s still interested, albeit everything that happened”, he expressed crestfallen. The words left his mouth and he couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Ámbar, who had moved over to a table at some point and was now conversing with Nina’s mom.

The rest seemed to follow his gaze since Matteo asked, “What is your mom doing with Ámbar, Nina?”

The mexican turned toward the girl, wondering the same thing.

“My mom offered to help her with the legal business of the Roller”, said the brunette and everyone lifted their eyebrows except Eric. That made Simón remember something.

“Is that why she approached you yesterday?”, he asked, thinking of the moment before he had given Ámbar the milkshake. He felt a slight jab in his chest at thinking how things had changed in just one day.

“Yeah, she was asking for her number”, the girl replied. “It surprised me too but, I guess Ámbar needs all the help she can get now that Gary left her alone with everything”.

Simón looked at Ámbar again. Nina was definitely right, she had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders and it wasn’t fair that VIDIA wasn’t helping her at all.

He felt guilt crept over him, feeling that instead of helping her he had just put more pressure over her. Of course, it hadn’t been him who made her mess with Luna in the first place. But still, maybe, maybe he had been too harsh.

 _Luna’s furious at you and you think you’re being too harsh?_ Scoffed a part of him.

But _he_ chose to hide it from her, he reflected. It was his decision.

_Yeah, a decision you made for her sake. How did she repay you?_

He realized in that moment that he had lied to Ámbar. People did expect things in return. Although not out of greed of selfishness. There were things one simply couldn’t help. If you trusted someone you expected that trust to pay off, if you were honest you expected honesty in return, and if you loved someone, you inevitably wished that person loved you back.

Simón stared at her, head bowed as she wrote intently, her left hand lifting to tuck a strand of her hair that was too short to be tied behind her ear, keeping it away from her eyes. Such small insignificant gesture constricted his heart.

Then those blue eyes found his, almost as if she felt him. He averted his gaze, leaving the guys who had continued talking about who knows what and got back to work. Their gazes didn’t meet again up to the moment when he left to meet Luna, later in the afternoon. He just notified Pedro that he was going out and went, nervous but determined to make things right.  

 

 

*********************************

 

 

Ámbar was _so_ grateful to Ana. She didn’t think she could ever repay her for her help. In just some moments she had taken care of some legal papers the blonde didn’t understand and advised her on how to proceed with the rest. She also told her she was doing a great job by now, which filled her relief and joy.

It didn’t mean that she hadn’t more work to do but, she definitely alleviated the burden.

The blonde had stayed by the table when the woman left, going through some last things before calling it a day and going home. She was focused, thinking that the sooner she finished the sooner she’d be free, when she felt chairs dragging closer to her, sitting in front.  

“Hello, Ámbar”.

The blonde lifted her head and sighed internally. She should’ve known it was them.

“Emilia”, she said in return of her greeting, “Benicio”, she greeted as well. “I’d say is good to see you but, actually, I’m quite busy at the moment in case you can’t tell”, she noted, before dropping her gaze back to her papers.

“Oh yeah, you’re always busy lately, right? Either with your work or betraying us”, remarked Emilia with irony.  

Ámbar put her pen down and looked at the Mexican.

“Betraying you?”, she repeated with irony of her own, lifting her eyebrows. “When and how did I betray you guys exactly?”

“You mean besides the fact that now thanks to you I’m the biggest cuckold of this place?”, asked Benicio, speaking for the first time since he arrived. Ámbar wished he had remained silent.

“Oh, Benicio, tell me this is not another jealousy scene, please”, whined the blonde. She had had enough with the one from the previous day.

“Well, as shitty as that was”, commented Emilia, “I saw it coming, so under other circumstances I wouldn’t have given you shit for it. But you also told Simón about the change of Felipe’s number”, she sentenced.  

“I already told you, he—”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘ _he found out on his own’_. Cut the crap, Ámbar”, interrupted Benicio, fed up, “You know very well that you could’ve denied it, make up something, but you didn’t”.

“You chose that loser over us from the beginning”, accused Emilia with venom. “Ever since you came up with your brilliant idea of your Flash Open. And it’s not even just him, you gave me a peace speech about how we should leave the Roller guys alone”, she shook her head in disbelief, “I really don’t recognize you anymore, Ámbar”.

“If I told you that it was for your own good, Emilia. And I tell you both, stop it with this nonsense about the Roller guys”, she tried to appeal one more time, looking at them with intent. “It takes you nowhere, trust me. You should be focusing on what’s really important, like our team for example”.

Boy and girl shared a look before focusing on her again.  

“Well, that’s precisely what we wanted to talk to you about”, said the Mexican.

The Argentinian frowned. “What about it?”

Benicio sat back in the chair, a smug smile appearing on his face.  

“We’re taking you out of the team”, he declared.   

Ámbar blinked.

Three seconds and he still hadn’t said it was a joke.

The girl scoffed, a sarcastic smile on her face. “I’m sorry. Did I hear that right? _You_ are taking _me_ out of the team?”, she asked, totally amused. 

“That’s right”, the boy dictated, leaning forwards to throw his next words darkly. “I told you there’ll be consequences for messing with me”.

“Right…”, drawled the Argentinian. “You _do_ realize that, one, I’m the best skater from all of you so you’ll only be hurting yourselves, and two, that _I’m_ the one in charge of this **_whole_** place and that if I wanted to I could ban you two forever, right?”

She wasn’t sure how she’d manage it without hiring security guards, but she _could_.

Benicio only smiled cockily once more.

“Go ahead and try. I’m sure VIDIA would love to hear all about how you make out with an employee in their facilities”.

The amusement left Ámbar at once. 

She glared at the two in front of her and considered her options.  Benicio didn’t have any proof of that, at least she didn’t think so, so it’d be his word against hers. There was also technically no written rule against dating a subordinate, so technically she had done nothing wrong.

…But if she wanted to keep the job she couldn’t have her image tainted, couldn’t have VIDIA doubting her professionalism. They already doubted she was apt for it, she could feel it.   

She hated making Benicio and Emilia feel like they had the control, but then again, it’s not like she’d be really missing something.

Arriving to that conclusion, the blonde lifted her chin and shrugged.

“Fine. I don’t care, do whatever you want. I’m too busy to train either way”, she said with disinterest. And it was the truth. “And it’s not like the team even exists anymore, right? You’re more focused on what the Roller guys are doing or about what _I’m_ doing than in your own lives. I feel sorry for you, truly”.  

Benicio laughed humorlessly. “Funny you say that, you know, considering that just some days ago you were just like us. In fact,” he stated, leaning closer again as in confidentially, “I believe you still are. That all this nice girl act won’t last you for long… I’ve noticed you haven’t been sharing saliva with the guitarist today. Trouble in paradise? Did you mess up again?”, he asked with a mocking pout. 

Ámbar stood so fast that the table shook with the force of her palms hitting it.

“Don’t you _dare_ talk about me as if you know me because I _assure you_ that you don’t have the slightest idea of what I’m capable of”, she growled as she towered over him threateningly. She only slightly refrained herself from choking him right there. 

But Italian didn’t look affected by it at all. He only leaned back against his chair calm, his arm resting on the backrest and smile still on. “Well, thank you for proving my point”, he purred.

The blonde’s blood ran cold.

In just a second she had been consumed by the anger and need of revenge that had characterized her for years. It had been that easy.

But no, it was just Benicio getting in her nerves, nothing more. Anyone would’ve been angry, it didn’t mean anything. She was different, she wasn’t that Ámbar anymore.

As if she could hear her thoughts, Emilia’s voice rose up to taunt her.

“Admit it, Ámbar. Even if you wanna act nice, deep down, you’re as bad as us. You’ll always be just like us”, said the Mexican with an arrogant smile of her own, looking at her as if she was being silly fooling herself. “And I think your little boyfriend Simón already realized that. _Pity_ ”.  

She didn’t want their words to affect her but they did. When someone voiced your deepest fears it inevitably struck a chord.

She wanted to believe that she wasn’t that person anymore, or better yet, that deep down she never was. But what if that person _was_ who she was? What if no matter how hard she tried she would always be swept back into the dark ugly place she never wanted to return to?

“Leave her alone!”

The strong voice brought Ámbar back from her thoughts. All three heads turned to it, focusing on the newcomer. 

“Ramiro”, muttered the blonde, looking at the tall boy who was throwing daggers at his teammates.  

“Do you two don’t have anything better to do that you have to be harassing people all the time?”, he shot at the seated ones, gazing at them disapprovingly with his hands on his hips. 

“Stay out of this Ramiro”, told him Emilia.

“Yeah, I don’t remember having asked for your opinion”, noted Benicio.

“I can say whatever the fuck I want”, retorted the Chilean, crossing his arms. “Seriously, instead of messing with Ámbar or anyone else, why don’t you get a life?”

The Argentinian looked at both parties as they glared at each other, taken aback by the turn of events. The Italian seemed more annoyed by the second.

“Be careful, Ramiro. Don’t speak to us like that”, he warned.

“Or what? What are you gonna do?”, asked the Chilean defiantly.  

“Kick you out of the team too”.

The boy standing frowned.

 “‘ _Too_?’”, he repeated, glancing at the Argentinian and then back at the seated guys. “You kicked Ámbar out?”, he asked incredulously and then genuinely laughed. “You’re even stupider than I thought”.

Benicio clenched his jaw and stood up, facing the other boy. “Are you one of us yes or no, buddy? Think your answer _very_ carefully”.

Ramiro simply lifted his chin. “If Ámbar’s out then so am I”, he declared, and the Argentinian was astonished. “And to be honest, I didn’t want to stay. You like to talk about being the best but you don’t even care about skating. If _I’m_ gonna be the best”, he said, placing his hands on his chest, “I can’t be with assholes like you”.

Benicio’s face contorted in rage and it looked like he was gonna throw himself at the Chilean. That’s what finally snapped Ámbar into motion, standing between the boys at the same time that Emilia stood and placed a placating hand on Benicio’s shoulder.

“Alright, that’s enough!”, exclaimed the Argentinian with as much authority as she could. “I don’t want any fighting in this place”.

“Yeah, Benicio, it’s not worth it”, told him Emilia over his shoulder.

Both guys slacked their stance a bit but neither backed away. Ámbar grabbed her folder and pen in one arm and pulled on Ramiro’s arm with her other hand.

“Ramiro, let’s just leave”, said the girl and the Chilean relented, following her away.  

Ámbar stopped in the hallway by the entrance, the only place where there was no one else, and turned to the boy. 

“Why did you do that?”

Ramiro glanced at her with his hands in his pockets, looking way too laid-back considering what had just transpired.

“What? Call them assholes or quit the team?”, the boy asked simply, as if neither was a big deal.

“Defend me”, she answered.   

It had surprised her, the way he just burst in, spitting at Benicio and Emilia for bothering her. The boy dropped the nonchalant attitude, his gaze falling to his feet for a moment before returning to hers, and it surprised her again when she saw sadness in his eyes.

“It was my fault that Luna found out about Felipe before either of you could tell her. I imagine that’s why I haven’t seen you with Simón all day and I’m sorry. I gathered the least I could do was help you out”.

The blonde stayed silent for some seconds, not knowing what to say. It was true that Ramiro had messed up things, but honestly, she couldn’t find it in her to blame him. He’d always been nice to her, not like Emilia that had been her friend in name but jumped at the first opportunity to blame her for everything that went wrong and make her feel worst. And definitely not like Benicio who so clearly wanted to get into her pants. Looking back, Ramiro may have been more a friend to her than the other two, although they were never that close.

Ámbar crossed her arms.

“Well, I can handle myself”, she affirmed, her first instinct to show herself strong. She _was_ strong, she had dealt with worse and would continue doing so. But…

“… But thank you, Ramiro. I really appreciate it”, said the girl finally, giving the boy a small smile.

The Chilean smiled back and winked at her. “Anytime”.

After that, Ámbar said her goodbyes and left to go to her house.

On the way back, she couldn’t help but think that maybe she had just made her first real friend.

 

 

*********************************

 

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Roller, another pair of boy and girl were not so happy.

“Did you see that? They ran like cowards. Pathetic”, affirmed Benicio, as he sat on another chair. There was no point in staying on that table if Ámbar was gone.

Emilia sat beside him, wishing that someday Benicio would think things through first and then run his mouth. She swore she was the only one with a brain sometimes.

“Benicio, this is serious”, she expressed worriedly. “We’re only two people, we can’t even call ourselves a team anymore”. She hadn’t left Mexico to lose everything out of some male-ego thing. She had only agreed to take out Ámbar because she clearly had her mind and loyalties somewhere else now, but Ramiro? That hadn’t been the plan.  

“Don’t worry, we’re the best skaters out there, our opportunity to show our worth will come”, the boy assured her. If a famous skater like Felipe Mendevilla had been interested in that little girl Luna out of everyone, then they sure as hell were gonna get noticed eventually. It was only a matter of time. “In the meanwhile, I’m gonna make sure they pay for everything”.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”, asked Emilia.

Slowly, a smile grew on the boy’s face. “You’ll see”.

 

 

 

*********************************

 

 

Simón thought his hands were sweating as we walked through the park, and not because of the afternoon’s sun. When Luna had finished the Blake she had sent him a message telling him where she’d be so he walked directly there, glad that he didn’t have to wander through all the park looking for her. He would’ve had, though. He would do anything for her.

It was only minutes until he saw her at the distance, sitting on a bench under some trees, her gaze down as she fumbled with the bracelets on her wrist. So she hadn’t texted after leaving the Blake but after leaving her house, he gathered, judging by her normal clothes.

She felt him as he arrived, he could tell by the tension on her shoulders, but she only gave him a brief glance before setting her eyes on the extension of grass and bushes in front of her.

Simón sat next to her, his hands on his knees and eyes fixed on the girl even if she wasn’t looking at him.

“Hello, Luna”, he greeted to break the silence. He got another glance from her. “First of all, thank you for agreeing to talk to me”, he said, and it was both a thank and a plea of _please talk to me._

The girl let out a little sigh. “Yeah, well. Even my mom was on your side so I was kinda outnumbered”, she mused.

The boy decided not to dwell on that and just say what he so desperately needed to express. He turned his body as fully towards her as he could and

“Luna, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I know that what I did was wrong and I deeply apologize. You have to know that I would never do anything to hurt you. It’s not like I found out and was like ‘ _Let’s hide this from Luna so she doesn’t know!_ ’, I would never do something like that, Luna, you know me”.  

The girl finally turned to face him, her green eyes meeting his regretful ones. “I know, but you still did. You betrayed my trust, Simón.”

“No”, he denied immediately, both with his voice and his head shaking. It hurt him that she even thought that. “No, don’t say that, I would never do that. It’s just… Okay, I know it sounds like an excuse but, I really felt like Ámbar should be the one to tell you, I wanted _her_ to tell you. How can she prove that she’s good if we don’t give her a chance to do so? I really wanted to give her that chance”.

“…My mom said the same thing last night.”

“See?!”, Simón pointed out. Which, alright, was a rather low move, but he was desperate.   

“ _But_ it doesn’t justify lying”, Luna stressed, giving him a pointed look.

The boy looked down in shame. “I know. I’m sorry”, he said again, and then silence stretched between them. Simón stared at his hands, playing with the rings in them as his mistakes came to haunt him once again.

“…I can’t even blame Ámbar”, he muttered after some time. He was just saying was went through his mind, conscient that probably the last thing Luna wanted to talk about was Ámbar, but he couldn’t help it, all he thought all day was her. “I mean, she’s just starting to be… _herself_ , the real her, and I asked her to apologize to you when you two have never gotten along”. He gave a disheartened shrug. “Maybe I asked for too much… It wasn’t fair for her.”

In the quiet after his words, he was half expecting Luna to jump in outrage and yell at him to just go with Ámbar and leave her alone. But when she spoke her voice was calm.

“And yet she did”.

Simón lifted his gaze towards the girl, eyebrows scrunched.

“What?”

“Ámbar. She apologized to me yesterday”, informed Luna, looking at him so he could see the sincerity in her eyes.

But even then, he couldn’t stop himself from asking dumbfounded.

“…She did?” 

“Yep”, Luna confirmed, and Simón’s heart leaped in his chest. “She pretty much cornered me until I listened to her, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She told me that it was all her fault, that I shouldn’t be mad at you, she pretty much begged me to talk to you and then apologized”, recounted the girl, her eyes rolling a little but, strangely enough, not looking annoyed. “She even gave me Felipe’s number back”, she affirmed.

Simón’s eyes widened.   

“ _She did_?”, he asked again, his heart now pounding incessantly.  

The brunette made a sound of confirmation and Simón couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. She had done it, Ámbar had actually done it. And there he was thinking that she didn’t care, that she hadn’t bothered to try. Hell, she had even done more than he’d asked her to do!

The boy felt butterflies on his stomach and a sudden urge to jump all over the place. He didn’t, of course, but nothing could’ve stopped him from smiling.  

“You know, I wasn’t even gonna listen to her at first”, continued Luna, and Simón was suddenly reminded that he was in the middle of a very serious conversation that he should not be distracted from. “But then she reminded me of how I didn’t listen to Matteo before and I felt horrible just by imagining anything happening to you”.

The girl turned completely towards him then and her eyes gazed into his intently.

“Simón, we’ve been best friends since we were very little and I adore you. We’ve always told each other everything and that’s why it hurt me so much that you didn’t tell me”, she said, and the boy gulped the lump of pain in his throat. “But it’s precisely because I know you from all those years that I get it. You did what you thought was best, and I can’t stay mad at you for that”.

 Simón felt relief emerge inside him.  

“Does that mean you forgive me?”, he asked tentative, but a slight hint of his excitement at the idea may have sneaked through.

“Only if you forgive me”, expressed the girl, making him frown.

She looked down. “I told you very harsh things. I made fun of your feelings for Ámbar and it wasn’t my place to do so. I just… I was worried about you”, she said with her eyes back to his and he saw pain in the green of them. “And I expressed it in the worst way but— Simón, you’re an incredible person. You deserve someone that loves you, that protects you, that makes you as happy as you can possibly be, _and more_ ”, she uttered with emotion behind her voice, making Simón’s heart clench from how her words moved him. Of course Luna would think of him even when he had done something wrong. He didn’t know why he ever expected different. “Ámbar already hurt you once and I was worried she’d do it again, taking advantage of your good heart”.

“ _Was_?”, the dark-skinned repeated, curious by the past tense she had used.

Luna showed him a smile for the first time since the day before. “Well, I’m always gonna worry about you”, she affirmed with warm in her voice and he also formed a kind smile, thinking that he’d always worry about her too.

“But…”, continued the brunette, “after I talked to her yesterday, I think I believe you. Ámbar really is changing. And unless she’s a very good actress, I think she really does care about you too”.

And just like that, the happiness that filled him before was back in full force.  

It was like adrenaline. Every beat of his heart repeated _“She pretty much begged me to talk to you”_ and _“She even gave me Felipe’s number back”,_ making him vibrate, hitting him over and over with excitement like waves.

But this time, when he pictured himself in the water he wasn’t alone anymore.

Luna must have noticed that he was half ready to climb a hill and scream at the top of his lungs because she gave him a funny look.

“Alright, alright, control that smile of yours or you’re gonna hurt yourself”, she teased and both shared a laugh. A good, carefree laugh that he had no idea how much he had missed until then.

“So. Everything okay, best friend?”, he asked chirpily once the laughter died down.   

“We’re more than okay, best friend”, returned Luna with cheer of her own. “Just— I want you to take care of yourself, okay? Promise me that”, she said earnestly.  

The boy smiled warmly. “I promise”. 

Both united in a nice hug, the kind that melted all the bad things away and brought you peace. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling, the warm of the sun above them, the rustle of leaves against the breeze, and the certainty that things were gonna be alright.

“…And when I say ‘take care’ I mean that in more than one way if you know what I mean”, Luna told him as she pulled away, giving him a naughty look.

Simón’s eyes almost came out of their sockets. “ _Luna!”_ , he exclaimed astonished.

The brunette lifted her hands. “I’m just saying, I’m too young to be an aunt”.

“Oh god”, the boy moaned embarrassed, hiding his face in his hands, smiling nonetheless. 

Luna’s laugh reverberated in his ears and he felt like crying from relief. Finally, they could share moments like these again. Hopefully forever.

“Okay, what do you say we head to the Roller now?”, proposed the brunette, getting up from the bench and standing in front of him.

Simón stood as well and entwined his arm with his best friend.

“Lead the way, miss Luna”.

 

 

**************************

 

 

The moment Ámbar had walked into the mansion she had encountered Mónica. The kind woman had been sitting in one of the couches, calmly drinking tea when she saw the blonde enter and immediately greeted her with a smile. It had taken the blonde some time to realize that she really _was_ that nice, not some nice act she put up with her out of pity. She had started letting her in a little bit, coaxed by her caring gestures.  

That’s why she joined her for tea when the woman offered, a little worried that she’d talk to her about what she’d done to Luna, which she must have known by that point. But if she did she didn’t show, the conversation going to a whole different direction: Sharon.

Ámbar had felt so bad then, as the woman told her a bunch of stuff about Sharon that she had to pretend she didn’t already know. She had gotten so used to lie, but she was being truthful when she said she couldn’t believe all the stuff that her godmother was doing. It was the most honest she could be about the subject without betraying the woman that had raised her. Each passing day she was more and more convinced that her godmother’s revenge didn’t make sense, that it wouldn’t do any good to anyone, only cause harm. And yet she didn’t say anything.

She’d try to talk some sense into Sharon, she decided. There had to be a way to make her understand, it wasn’t too late.

At seeing her troubled face, Mónica reached for the Ámbar’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze, smiling sadly at her and telling her how sorry she was that she had to suffer through all this. Ámbar wondered if she’d say the same thing if she knew everything.

Out of the blue, the woman smiled excitedly and told her that pancakes would go excellent with the tea and asked if she’d like some. The blonde thought that it was clearly the dark-skinned’s way to try and cheer her up. She felt bad about it but would’ve felt worse denying her kind gesture so she accepted.

She followed the woman to the kitchen, both carrying their cups, and watched as she arranged everything she’d need. She offered to help many times but Mónica insisted that she just sat there and wait. The blonde did as asked, remaining silent except for some casual exchanges now and then with the dark-skinned as she prepared the pancakes.

She found that the silence wasn’t awkward, and she caught herself observing the woman’s steps attentively, wishing to learn by watching. It seemed simple enough, but she probably wouldn’t remember everything after just one time. Never before had she been interested in learning how to cook, they had employees for that, but the idea of being able to prepare herself something anytime she wished sounded very appealing, and invigorating thinking it would be something she made with her own hands.  

Once the pancakes were done, they sat at the diner table to enjoy them, Mónica with caramel and Ámbar with chocolate sauce. After such a heavy day, the girl felt like the sweet in her mouth was a small heaven. The woman laughed she told her as much.

Mónica had just finished eating when Miguel came looking for her, apparently to discuss some matters. After assuring her that she didn’t mind, the woman showed Ámbar one last gentle smile and left following her husband.

Ámbar stayed at the dinner table for a while longer, nursing one last cup of tea, embracing its warm. Satisfied, the blonde stood up, meaning to go to her room, but the moment she set foot outside the dining room she saw Simón walking through the front door and closing it behind him. Her heart leapt inside her chest when his brown eyes met hers.

“Simón...”

The boy’s expression was unreadable and Ámbar considered leaving, just continue her way upstairs while silently begging he’d called to her. But she had already been patient all day and, looking at him now, she found she couldn’t be so anymore.

She needed to talk to him, to make him _talk to her_ , she needed it desperately.

“Were you able to talk to Luna? Did she forgive you?”, asked the girl, and felt her anxiety rise as he didn’t answer, remaining impassive as he silently made his way to her. “Because if not I can keep on trying”, she offered, nervous, “I- I’ll convince her. I’ll talk to her over and over again if necessary, I promise. Just—”  

The words died on her lips as they were covered by Simón’s.

The assault knocked the air out of her lungs. One moment he was steps away and the next his hands were cupping her face as he kissed her with a passion she didn’t understand but returned, nonetheless.

A fleeting instant of surprise and then she moved her lips with his, tilting her head from one side to the other as the kiss deepened. Her hands dug on his hair, holding it in fists, and she wasn’t breathing, but somehow she felt like she was taking her first gulps of air in a very long time.

When he pulled away leaving her lips parted, his eyes stared at her so hard she thought his look may pierce her. Her hands fell to his chest and she could feel the pounding of his heart when he spoke.

“I love you”.

There. That’s when she really lost her breath.

Her eyes danced from one of his to the other as she tried to process what was going on, if she was dreaming it all or if it was actually real. She blinked many times, expecting it all to fall away into the fragment of her imagination that it had come from, but each time her eyes re-opened his gaze remained warm and so _unbearably_ tender.

She didn’t know from where she got enough oxygen to murmur, “You do?”

The boy smiled gently and nodded, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. She felt the slight brush of his fingers against her cheek as strongly as she could feel the beating of her heart.

There was only one thing she could answer to that.

“… Me too. I love you too”.

The words had barely left her lips when he pulled her by the waist, claiming them once more as he kept her flush against his body. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back, standing on her tiptoes to be as close as possible. She felt like her whole world was spinning, her heart clenched with so many emotions she tried to convey through her lips, tongue and hands. It was beautiful and perfect and _right_ and she didn’t want to let go but—

“Wait”, she gasped as she emerged from the drug of him. “We’re in the middle of the lobby, anyone could see us”.

“Screw that”, he said before quickly kissing her lips once more, as if parting from them for more than some seconds physically pained him. “I don’t care who sees. I’ll take the teasing or the scolding or whatever”. His right hand came up to hold her cheek gently as his eyes stared into hers reverently. “Let’s just be together, properly this time. With no more secrets, or plans, just us”.

Her stomach fluttered at the look of pure love he was giving her, and she knew it was mirrored in her own. She felt a tingling all over her body, and she tightened her hold on him, to tether herself and claim him as hers. “I want that too”, she vowed looking directly into his eyes. “More than anything”.

He smiled then and it felt like he had given her a gift. She had missed that smile. She would’ve stared at his smile forever if it wasn’t for how much she needed those lips.

Once more, she pulled him to her, but this time with no intention of ever parting again. Their mouths merged, fervor fueled by the exorbitant bliss of knowing the other felt the same, the same unsettling and intoxicating feeling that once it took root in you in never let you go, the feeling that consumed you until you could no longer recognize yourself without it, until it became a part of you. 

In between kisses, roaming hands and staggering feet on steps, they made their way up to the second floor, to the privacy where they could rid themselves of the ache of being two separate beings and melt into one as their hearts so deeply desired.  

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me exactly a month but I DID IT! I FINISHED!!! *Applauds herself*  
> I really hope this doesn't suck. I'll check for any mistakes tomorrow and fix them. 
> 
> See you next time darlings <3


	9. ...With Uncovered Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains smut and it's definitely not worth the 3 months it took me to write it.

They fell into the mattress between a mess of kisses and giggles, Ámbar on top of him after having almost pushed him into the bed. With their legs entwined, they kissed profoundly, her hands digging in his hair and Simón’s on her waist. She ran her tongue over the roof of his mouth making him moan, and he responded by catching her bottom lip in his teeth and giving it a little tug.

Ámbar gasped and leaned back slightly, looking at him. His eyes found hers immediately, both their breathings were ragged. She thought about how he said he liked her eyes, but his were beautiful. She adored them, especially when they looked at her like that, like she was  _everything._

She left a short kiss on his mouth, enthralled by the way his lips followed her when she pulled back.  

“Wait, one second.”

Simón opened his eyes again and watched as she stood from the bed and walked to her dressing table, extracting a key from one of the drawers and then moving to her door.

The sound of the lock turning echoed in a leap of his heart.

Well, that left no doubt about her intentions.

Not like he was complaining.

He took the chance to kick off his shoes and socks and she mirrored him, taking off her boots before throwing herself on top of him again. Her legs straddled his hips and she kissed the breath out of his lungs. Her tongue slipped back into his mouth and he met it with his own, the velvety warm feeling sending pleasure chills over his body.

If anyone had told him that morning that he’d be ending his day like that, he would’ve laughed. Back then, he wasn’t even sure Ámbar felt the same. Now he  _knew_ , not just because of her words but because he had seen it in her eyes, had felt it in the way she kissed him with the same uncontrollable happiness that was overwhelming him. And he felt it now, as her hands roamed all over him and she kissed him with urgency.

Ámbar lifted his t-shirt and he broke the kiss long enough to lift his arms so she could take it off. She immediately leaned to his neck, kissing down his chest and inhaling his scent. It was manly and so Simón; it was intoxicating. She could feel the hard beating of his heart, reflecting her own, and the way his skin felt hot against her palms. He had his eyes closed, like losing himself to the feeling of her touch and she loved the way his muscles reacted to her explorations. She moved lower, leaving wet kisses down his abs and he groaned when she licked him right over the thin patch of hair that disappeared under his jeans.

Simón snapped his eyes open and grabbed her by the back of her head, pulling her into another kiss, this one more passionate than the lasts. He freed her hair so it fell in waves and dug his hands in it as they kissed incessantly. Ámbar grounded her hips against his, delighting in the delicious friction and the needy groan that escaped him. His hands delved desperately under her shirt, needing to feel her more, caress all of her smooth skin. Feeling the same need to be touched, she sat up and took her shirt off over her head.

Simón realized then, in the middle of his foggy mind, that he hadn’t seen her in her bra before. The first time there hadn’t been that much clothing to take off, and the ones that were there seemed to disappear in a matter of seconds. Now she was straddling him with her breasts cupped by a black bra and his eyes delighted with the view.

It only lasted a few seconds though, because after that Ámbar moved her hands to her back and unclasped it, dragged it off her shoulders and threw it away.

Simón pouted.

“ _I_  wanted to do that.”

Ámbar smiled teasingly.

“Want me to put it back on?”, she asked with a fake innocent look.  

Simón placed his hands on her back and pushed her closer to him.

“Hell no.”

He flipped them over, laying on top and looked down at her. Bare from the waist up, her blonde hair spread over the black pillows in a contrast that made it look like she was light itself, the freckles on her chest her own constellation of stars. Her blue eyes were dark with equal measures of love and desire, looking at him. She was so beautiful that it was breathtaking.

He leaned to place reverent kisses on her skin, from her neck to the valley of her breasts and her stomach. He moved up, kissing her lips once more and cupping her breasts at the same time. Ámbar sighed at the contact, arching her back to urge him to touch her more. He complied, squeezing them gently, caressing her nipples with his thumbs in small circles and tasting the moans he elicited on his tongue. Her legs clenched around him, feeling the heat build between them with every touch of his skin against hers and her hands moved to his jeans eagerly, wanting nothing more than to feel him completely.

“Wait”, he stopped her hands. She looked at him with question in her eyes, wondering if she had done something wrong.

“Not yet”, he said, and the graveness in his voice gave away that he indeed had no intention to stop. “I want to do it right this time.”

Relaxing once more, Ámbar moved her hands to his back.

“Last time was  _far_  from bad”, she purred, inching up to leave kisses up his neck and tug on his earlobe.

Simón’s eyes closed and he hummed at the sensation.

“Yeah, but it all happened too fast”, he said, and gently pushed her down by the shoulders so she was laying back down. “This time, I wanna enjoy you. I wanna remember every inch of your skin.”

His hand moved up her stomach and between her breasts, his gaze following it as if in a little show of all he meant to explore. He leaned down to leave a kiss over her pounding heart and then he raised his head, looking deeply into her eyes.  

“Would you let me?”  

Ámbar gulped at the look he gave her, like he wanted to devour her and worship her at the same time. She wasn’t used to being looked at like that, and the promise written in his melting brown eyes made her heart speed up.

Her mouth failed her so she nodded, a mix of anticipation and anxiousness forming inside her chest.

He kissed her slowly, trying to engrave it in his memory: the feeling of her lips, the scent of her hair, the smoothness of her skin, the taste of her tongue against his. He wanted to be remembered as well, print himself on her so she would never forget him or how much he loved her.

That’s what he wanted, have the first time they should’ve had, adore her and show her how much she meant to him.

Her hands traveled over his back and slid up to his hair as his head slid down to kiss her neck. He licked and sucked on her sensitive skin, tracing all of it until the edge of one shoulder and then the other. His hand cupped a breast again, squeezing it as he bit on her collarbones. Little sounds came out of her mouth as he painted her skin with his lips as if they were a brush. He licked the tip of one breast as his hand caressed the other and her nails dug on his scalp. He groaned, and she could feel the vibration travel from her nipple to the rest of her body like an electric charge. Simón stayed like that for a while, switching sides between his hand and mouth, arousing her more. Finally, with one last suck, he released her breast and moved lower, kissing down her stomach, his hands sliding over her sides. Suddenly, he leaned back, staring at her right side, his thumb tracing a circle over her hip.  

“This looks like a star.”  

Ámbar’s eyes fluttered open from her kiss-induced trance and looked down to see what he meant.

“Oh, it’s my birthmark”, she exhaled breathlessly. She was surprised she could even form words at all.

Simón smiled tenderly at the small spot. “It’s just like you.”

Sweetly, he placed a kiss over the mark. A star. He couldn’t have chosen a better mark if he tried.    

Ámbar’s chest tightened at his gesture. Damn it, it wasn’t fair. He couldn’t be that cute and turn her on so much at the same time, her heart was gonna give up at any second.

As if trying to test that theory, Simón kneeled on the bed and moved his hands to her shorts, opening them.

“See? Last time I didn’t get to notice that”, he observed, pulling the garment down her legs and discarding it on the floor afterward. “Nor did I get to do this…”

Taking one of her feet in his hand, he took off one of her socks and then started kissing up her leg, right from her ankle. He grazed her skin with his lips and his tongue up to her inner thigh, making Ámbar jolt and squirm under him from the sensations. He repeated the same with her other leg, sucking and circling his tongue on her sensitive skin, and by the time he reached her thigh again, Ámbar was panting.

“Simón,  _please_ ”, she whimpered, her hands gripping the covers of her bed tightly.  

What exactly was she begging for, she didn’t know—  _anything._ Anything would do, she just needed him to stop that torture no matter how sweet it was, she couldn’t take it anymore.

Simón left one last kiss on her thigh and let go of her leg. He could never deny Ámbar anything that she asked, especially if she did it in such a sweet voice overwhelmed by want.

His fingers hooked on the edge of her last piece of underwear and swiftly pulled it down her legs. Once done, he pushed her legs apart once more and without delaying any longer, he dipped his head and brought his tongue to her center.

Ámbar, having been built up to the point of desperation, was suddenly assaulted by the hot and wet traces of his tongue directly on her most sensitive spots. The sensation was so overwhelming that her head fell back and her back arched, crying out.

Simón pulled away slightly.

“ _Sshhh_ ”, he muttered against her thigh, finding her gaze. She shivered. “They could hear us.”

It took Ámbar a second to process that. She had been so lost in him that she had totally forgotten where they were. It wasn’t the deposit where they were truly alone, it was her bedroom, and her walls weren’t sound-proof if all the complaints about loud music were any indication. She knew the mansion more than anyone, and yes, it was pretty wide, but usually very quiet, so any too loud noise could call attention. And she may not be trying to hide that they were together, but it didn’t mean she wanted it broadcasted like that to the whole lot.

Looking down at him, she bit her bottom lip and nodded.

His head leaned down again.  

The truth is that Simón had only done that a couple of times. In fact, he probably had less experience that she thought he did, but if there was one thing he had, it was the utter determination to make her feel good. So, with that goal in mind, he paid attention to every reaction of her body, to every move that made her legs twitch around him or stifle a moan.

As the swirls of his tongue got more and more maddening, Ámbar dug her hands in his hair, needing to hold on to something. He sucked on her clit and her hands gave a strong tug, which elicited a groan from him that she could feel all over. She faintly wondered if maybe she was holding on too hard, but then a finger entered her and she was too busy using a hand to quiet the sounds she couldn’t help to think about anything else.

Her legs shook as the sensations turned stronger and stronger, her body winding up tighter, and it was only moments until she came, wave after wave of hot pleasure overtaking her.

Simón eased down on his movements slowly, letting her ride the last of her climax before pushing himself up, leaving little kisses up her stomach and her heaving chest. After a few moments, Ámbar grabbed his head and pushed him down to a hungry kiss.

“I love you”, she breathed after breaking the contact.  

“That good, huh?”, he joked with a smirk, but all humor left him as Ámbar’s hands gripped his jeans and opened them.

Simón eagerly helped her take them off his legs, his boxers going along with them. Her melted sounds along with feeling her come apart under his hands had left him almost unbearably hard and he didn’t think he could wait any longer. He needed to lose himself in her, so deeply that neither knew where one ended and the other began.

Devoid of the last layers that separated them, he laid on top of her again, nestled between her legs. She ran her hands up his back and placed them on his nape, looking up at him. His hands slid down her sides and grabbed her waist, taking that moment to look into her eyes, memorize the way she looked gazing at him like that.

She tugged him down for a kiss and he went willingly, sliding his lips over her soft ones. He softly positioned himself on her entrance as they kissed, enjoying the way her fingers gripped him tighter when she felt him rub against her. Their mouths kept tasting each other until the need for air and for the other became too strong.

Their lips separated slowly and, with eyes still closed, their foreheads touched.  

“I love you too”, he told her. Then he entered her slowly.

The moan that left them both couldn’t have been avoided if they tried. For Simón, being inside her was absolute bliss, like he had been always meant to be there and he had been missing her until then. She hummed under him, almost like in relief, and he wondered if she felt the same thing, if she could possibly feel as good as he did.  

He leaned back slightly and their gazes found each other. With looking away, he started moving, sliding in and out of her at a slow pace, but his thrusts were passionate, deep. Ámbar’s nails dug in his skin. It felt so good, his hot skin on her own, his hips rubbing against her, his hardness grazing that spot inside her over and over again. That alone was hard to handle, but the way he was looking at her made everything even stronger.

His eyes roamed her body and watched every expression on her face, and she had a weird surge of shyness at how intimate it felt. She didn’t think she had ever done it like that, with her eyes wide open looking at the other person. It was intense, but she didn’t wanna close her eyes because she could see too: every change in his expression as he buried himself inside of her, every contort of his face when he moaned, every slide of his lips as he bit them to quiet a groan or opened them to gasp. Each time she found herself moaning from the sensations she could see him do it as well. She had never felt so connected with another person in her life.

She passed her hand through the faint sign of stubble in his jaw, wiped the sweat on his forehead and threw his hair back away from his eyes. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead, her cheek, the tip of her nose and finally her lips.

Ámbar had always considered that ‘making love’ was a cheesy expression, but now she understood it.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and Simón slid his under her to sit her up and put her into his lap. The change of angle made Ámbar gasp, and he took the chance to deepen the kiss. Sounds of pleasure escaped his throat as she moved on top of him, rolling her hips so deliciously he thought he may die.

Their chests molded together as they held each other tight. They moved in perfect synch, each time he rose, she fell to meet him, and each time they did it was so electrifying they felt it down to their toes. His hands drowned in her hair and her hands traced all over his wide back. It was like hugging in body and soul, like in that moment they weren’t two but one, and it felt so devastatingly good that they just had to step up the tempo, had to have more of that, lose themselves in the other.

As Ámbar felt the pressure build more and more inside her, begging to snap, her movements turned erratic, her breathing rasped. Simón took over, holding her hips and pounding deeply into her, loving the way she threw her head back and opened her mouth in abandonment. He could do that to her; make her lose herself in the extasy he provided, and an old instinct in him told him that at that moment she was his, completely and utterly  _his_.

Pride invaded him, and a strong urge to mark her as such, to give himself to her.

A couple more thrusts and Ámbar reached her release. Her walls clenched hard around him as her body convulsed and he hurried to kiss her to muffle her sounds, and his own as well as he touched heaven just a moment later. A thousand sparks coursed through his body as the pressure inside him set free in an explosion of sensation and spilled inside her with a grunt.

_Mine._

Both collapsed against each other, shaking and holding the other tight as they tried to get back from the stratosphere, tried to teach their bodies how to breathe again.

They could feel the pounding of the heart of the other, their skins sleek from the sheen of sweat. He didn’t want Ámbar to get cold from it, so with heavy movements, Simón reached behind her and pulled back the covers of the bed for them to lay under. Ámbar didn’t really want to move but the chill air was starting to affect her so she followed him, making sure to not part from him for even a second. She stayed stuck to his body as much as she could and once under the covers she immediately curled up at his side, moving one arm around him and laying her head on his shoulder. Simón placed the covers on top of them and snuggled with her as well.  

He looked at the small girl in his arms and felt that he wanted to give her everything,  _everything_  she desired, lay the world at her feet. Maybe she had just given herself to him, but he was hers from a long time ago.

He was playing with the ends of her hair when Ámbar’s voice rose from the comfortable silence.  

“So… I’m assuming your talk with Luna went well?”

Simón laughed and Ámbar raised her head happily to see him, glad that her statement had had the desired effect. His voice was still kinda hoarse and it sent a pleasant shudder through her.  

“Yeah, quite”, he appraised and propped his head in one hand to look at her. “She told me how you talked to her for me. I was so excited when I found out that I had to restrain myself from running to find you right there and then.”

She smiled at the image of him buzzing from excitement. “I told you I would talk to her”, she shrugged slightly. “The least I could do was keep my word.”

He shook his head slightly, looking deeply into her eyes. His hand tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and stayed on her cheek. “It was more than that.”

Before she could ask what he meant, he pecked her lips softly. “Sorry for doubting you would.”

“Well, to be fair, it’s not like I was very ecstatic to do it”, she admitted, making him giggle. Her eyes focused on Simón’s smiley lips. “But let’s say I forgive you if you give me another kiss. – Or, no, you know what?”, she quickly corrected, bringing a hand up to cup his face. “I’ll just steal it.”  

He couldn’t help but giggle again, but it soon turned into a sigh as her lips touched his. The one kiss was followed by a peck, and then another, and two more because Ámbar seriously loved his lips.

He grabbed her hand from his face and left a kiss on her palm.

“I saw you with Nina’s mom today”, he told her as he entwined their fingers. “I didn’t know she was helping you.”

“Today was the first time, actually. You have no idea how grateful I am towards her. You may want to start worrying because I think I love her.”

He laughed and raised his eyebrows. “To that extent?”

“Totally. She helped me figure out so many things that I had been fighting with for days that I didn’t even think about Emilia and Benicio anymore.”

He frowned. “Emilia and Benicio? Did something happen with them?”

She shrugged. “They kicked me out the team.”

Simón’s eyes widened and he sat up a little. “What?! Your skating team? Why?”

“Well, Emilia said that it was because I betrayed them by fraternizing with the enemy, but it was mostly just Benicio’s way to get back at me for what happened”. She rolled her eyes at that with disdain, seeming more interested in the circles she was tracing on his chest. “Honestly, joke’s on them, they’ll never get a skater as good as me. Or Ramiro either”, she added, looking up at him. “He quit the team as soon as he found out they were kicking me out.”

“…Wow.”

He remained quiet after that faint sound, looking at nothing with his gaze unfocused, his thumb rubbing on her back absentmindedly.

Ámbar sat up a little beside him.

“Hey”, she said, grabbing his face between her hands so he looked at her. “Stop.”

“Stop what?”

“Blaming yourself”, she stated, and if she hadn’t been sure already, the way his eyes flicked would’ve finished convincing her that she was right.

“It’s not your fault”, she expressed with as much certainty as she could, wanting him to believe her. “And I honestly don’t mind being out of the team. If they had given me the time, probably  _I_ would’ve left  _them_.”

“But they kicked you out because of me, because of us,” he remarked, grabbing her hands and lowering them, “and Benicio doesn’t even know we did it while you two were together, _imagine_  if he knew. And by the way,  _that_  was wrong— No, don’t try to tell me it wasn’t. I don’t regret it, truly, but I admit it was wrong. If you had seen Luna’s face when I told her, I felt like I was the worst—"

“Wait”, Ámbar held up a hand. “ _You told Luna?_ ”

Simón froze.

_Ups._

“Um. Yeah, the day we fought. Sorry”, he admitted with a little grimace. “It’s just— She asked about us and I just couldn’t lie to her any more than I already had.”  

Ámbar looked at him for a while and before sighing.

“It’s fine”, she conceded. Luna was his best friend, she guessed she understood. And it’s not like he had told her in full detail or boasting about it, she was sure of it, Simón wasn’t like that. “I’m actually surprised the whole Roller isn’t talking about it by now, considering how they love talking about other people’s lives”, she pondered. “We should buy Pedro a pizza or something for keeping it secret.”

Relaxed once again at her side, Simón laughed softly.  

“I think as long as he doesn’t find us like that anymore, that’d be reward enough for him.”

Suddenly, something flicked in her and she gave him a look that he knew very well by then, after all the encounters they’ve had. Slowly, she rolled her body so she was half on top of him, one of her legs delving between his.

“…You’re saying there’s a chance he’d find us like that again?”, she asked with a flirty smile on her face.

Simón ran his hands down her back as a smirk of his own appeared on his face.

“Well, I don’t know”, he answered with the same teasing tone. “Anything’s possible, right?”

Their smiling lips met tenderly, sliding against the other’s in synch. She captured his bottom lip and then he captured hers. Simón’s hands cupped her butt and Ámbar giggled against his mouth, tugging playfully on his lip.  

They kissed like that for a while, exchanging caresses, nibbles, and warmth.

The pressure of their lips grew with time, as did the depth of their kiss. Soon it wasn’t enough to just be laying down, so they adjusted, Ámbar with her legs around him and Simón seated under her, holding her tightly. It was always like that for them, a touch ended in hundreds and a spark turned into fire, it seemed inevitable. Just as inevitable as Ámbar rising on top of him and Simón clenching his grasp on her hair as he felt her descend, joining their bodies all over. It was a fleeting relief for them both, quickly followed by a desire for more that the swaying of their hips tried to fulfill.  

It was late night when they succumbed to sleep, falling asleep on each other’s arms.

 

…

..

.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait guys! Writer's block nearly killed me but I survived. Let's all hope it doesn't happen again.


	10. ...With Ramiro's Decision

For the first time in a long while, Ámbar woke up with her alarm.

The high-pitched screech erupted in her ears and brought her roughly from the depths of her nice sleep. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes a little, blinking many times to adjust to the light. Was the sound of her alarm always that irksome? First hour of the day and she was already annoyed.

That, until she heard a low groan behind her, followed by an arm wrapping around her middle and holding her close.

“Turn that off…”

Just like that, the bad mood was gone, replaced by pure endearment.

Ámbar let out a giggle and stretched her hand to get the phone, but she couldn’t reach it because of his arm holding her against him.

“I can’t turn it off if you don’t let go of me,” she pointed out with humor.   

Simón let out another groan and reluctantly took his arm away. Ámbar moved closer to her nightstand and turned off the alarm.

Just as it stopped ringing, Simón’s arms caught her and brought her back against him. Ámbar giggled again and turned around to face him.

Just like that time at the deposit, Simón laid next to her with his eyes closed, breathing gently. His soft features were the same, but this time they were lighted by the sun rays that snuck through her curtains, giving him an almost angelic look. Also, this time, she didn’t dread the moment he’d open his eyes.

Ámbar found that any doubt she could’ve had that things were meant to go wrong had disappeared after last night. Simón had kissed her and treated her with a warmth so special that it had melted away any fear up to her bones. She could still feel that warmth now, lying between his arms. Ámbar had never felt so calm, safe and protected in her whole life. How could anything not be alright if he was with her?

She took a hand out from between them and ran her knuckles down his face. She had never loved anyone so much. No one had ever loved her either, or at least she didn’t think so. It was a very nice feeling; one she could get used to.

Ámbar brought her hand back to his chest and let herself enjoy that feeling for a moment longer. Also, she was tired as well after the events of the previous night, so a little more rest didn’t sound bad.

After a while, though, she started pulling away. Or at least tried to. 

“Simón,” she said, pushing his chest softly.

He shut his eyes tighter and mumbled.  

“I’m sleeping…”

Ámbar couldn’t help but smile. Sleepy Simón was probably the cutest thing she had ever seen.

“You can rest for a little longer if you want, but I have to get up to go to the Roller,” she said gently.  

“No, you don’t have to. Just stay with me.”

She chuckled. “And who’s gonna open the Roller?”

“Pedro, Eric, I don’t care…” He mumbled, and snuggled even closer against her, drowning his face in her neck. Apparently, he was determined to not let her go.

Ámbar rolled her eyes with a smile. It was like a little kid throwing a tantrum. Oh, well. She guessed she’d have to convince him.

She slid a hand to his back and her other to his shoulder and moved closer, like hugging him, making sure to deliberately press her breasts against his chest in the process. They were bare since she’d only put on panties before falling asleep, and he as well had no more than boxers on, so they were skin to skin.

Simón’s fingers clenched on her lower back so she knew he felt it. Good.

Since his head was on her neck, it left his neck exposed in front of her, so Ámbar started leaving little kisses over it. Simón sighed, melting into her affections, but it soon turned into a moan when her kisses turned wet. She took her time savoring his skin, going down to his collarbone and back up. Her hand on his back moved down, running her nails softly down his spine. He trembled. Right after, she slowly ran the tip of her tongue from the base of his neck up to his jaw. He groaned.

“Ámbar,” Simón gasped hoarsely.

Delicately, she slid her leg between his and raised her knee up to his thighs.

That did him in.

In a flash, Simón had her on her back and was kissing her mouth passionately. His hands roamed her sides, from her thighs up to the outlines of her breasts. Ámbar moved hers to the mess that was his hair, loving that it had been her and not the pillow that had left it like that.

Just a moment. She allowed herself to kiss him back for just one moment and then flipped them with a shove to his chest, sitting on top of him.

Simón looked up at her with eyes as wild as the beating of his heart.

Ámbar smirked.

“Good, you’re awake.”

Swiftly, she got off him and stood up from the bed, holding a sheet around her chest.

“Huh?”

Ámbar bent over, grabbed Simón’s discarded jeans and threw them at the boy who was still reclining in bed, supported by his elbows, looking utterly confused.  

“Dress up,” she told him. “You gotta go change before anyone sees you wearing the same clothes as yesterday.”

“But— So, you mean—” Finally, he seemed to catch up with what had happened and he deflated. “Ugh, _really?”_

“Yes, _really,”_ she repeated with humor and moved to retrieve his t-shirt as well from the floor. “We need to go to the Roller, I told you. Now get up,” she told him, throwing him the clothing.   

Simón pouted and let himself drop face down on the bed. “I hate you,” he whined, muffled by the pillows.

Ámbar laughed. “You’ll survive.”

The girl turned to her closet and grabbed a robe so she didn’t have to be holding the sheet around herself. She put it on and, once it was tied around her waist, she started checking her clothes to see what she was going to wear that day.

In the meantime, she stole glances back at Simón. He was sitting on the bed, running a hand through his disheveled hair lazily, like getting in the mood to get up. He looked so out of place, Ámbar thought, surrounded by black scratches, stains, and graffitied walls; like innocence surrounded by chaos. And yet, she loved seeing him there, doing something as mundane as putting a t-shirt on. There was no other place she’d rather him be.

Once she was done looking through her clothes, she turned and found him moving around, his eyes looking at the floor. 

“What are you doing?” She asked him, leaving her closet and walking toward him.   

“Looking for— Ah, there it is.”

Simón crouched down in front of her end of bed bench and retrieved a sock from under it. He then sat on the bench to put it on.   

“Is there any use in putting your socks back on if you’re just going to change clothes anyway?”

He turned his head to her as he put on his shoe. “Would you rather I leave you a dirty sock as a souvenir?”

She laughed. “No, thanks.”

Now fully clothed, Simón stood up again. Not being able to resist, Ámbar approached him and brought her hands to his face, kissing him sweetly. His arms wrapped around her as he returned the caress of her lips.  

“Do we meet downstairs for breakfast?” He asked her when they pulled apart and she dropped her hands.   

“Of course. Just, let me shower and everything and I’ll meet you there.”

“Wait a minute…” Simón’s hands left her back and went to his chest instead, in an offended gesture, although his voice showed it was a jest. “Are you telling me that being able to save water by showering together you’re throwing me out of your bedroom? That’s not very eco-friendly of you, Ámbar. It’s very, _very_ inconsiderate towards the environment. I gotta say, I’m a little disappointed in you.”

Her hands went to her hips and she shook her head in disbelief, biting her lip. “Seriously? Eco-friendly? That’s what you’re going with?”  

“Didn’t work?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not giving you the chance to make us late. Now, go,” she told him, pushing him by the chest toward the door.

He grabbed her hands in his. “A kiss goodbye?”

“We’re gonna see each other in 30 minutes, there is no ‘goodbye’!” She laughed.

“30 minutes is a long time,” Simón countered.

Ámbar made a show of sighing dramatically but her smile betrayed her. “Alright…”

Between smiles and giggles, their lips met over and over, her arms wrapped around his neck and his around her. With each kiss, she slowly walked him backward, moving him to the door, but even when they reached it and she unwrapped her arms, she had to blindly reach for the handle since his mouth refused to let her go.  

With one last kiss and smile, she separated and pulled the door open, peeking her head out to check if there was anyone around. Seeing no one, she opened it wider and Simón walked out.

Just as he took two steps outside though, Ámbar stopped him.

“Wait, where are you going? The stairs are this way,” she said in a low voice as to not call attention, pointing in the other direction of the hallway.

“I’m going to my guest room,” he answered simply, pointing behind him.   

She furrowed her eyebrows. “Aren’t your clothes in the deposit? I thought you slept there with the guys.”

“Sometimes we do, especially if we play until late, but not _every_ night,” he explained, also speaking low, and gazed to the side to make sure no one was coming. “I have a couple stuff over there for when I stay but, as much as we enjoy hanging out together, a bed is way better than a couch, and some peace and quiet after a tiring day doesn’t hurt.”

“Huh...” Ámbar processed the new information and took a step closer to him, running her hands from his chest to his neck. “So… We’re gonna have to christianize your bedroom then.”

Simón showed a playful smile. “ _Excellent_ idea. Let’s go right now.”  

She giggled but then a sudden noise coming from the direction of the stairs made them jump. Ámbar silently hurried Simón to go while he fought against the shoves of her hands to steal a few last kisses from her lips before speeding down the hall and disappearing around the corner. Ámbar rushed inside her bedroom and closed the door before anyone saw her, smiling with her heart racing, feeling like a little girl doing mischiefs.

She hadn’t felt so alive for a long time. And Simón was right; she had just parted from him and she already missed him.

Eagerly, she hurried to her bathroom so she could soon see him again.

 

 

********************************

 

When Simón saw Ámbar enter the dining room exactly 30 minutes later, he almost dropped the tray of cookies he had been putting on top of the table and had to stop his jaw from touching the floor.

She was wearing a white top that left her shoulders bare and a tight black miniskirt that showed her long legs. She looked absolutely _stunning_. Was she trying to make his heart fail looking like that?  Was she doing it on purpose? Well, it’s not like she could stop being beautiful even if she tried. God, he loved her so much.

“You look _beautiful_ ,” he told her as she approached him next to the dinner table, not being able to help himself.  

A slight pink tinted her cheeks and she gave him a little smile. “Thank you.” She gave him a once over and looked at him with humor. “It seems to me like we match, no?”

Simón followed her gaze and looked down to his clothes. Indeed, over his blue jeans, he had a t-shirt that was half black, half white, the same colors she was using.

“Oh. I didn’t even think about it.” He had pretty much thrown on the first t-shirt on his drawer in his haste to see her again. “Guess we’re connected,” he said with a flirt and took one step closer to her.

With her high heel black ankle boots, Ámbar was almost his high, so her sweet lips were almost at level with his own. Right as he leaned to kiss them though, she placed a finger over his mouth, stopping him.   

“Breakfast first,” she said, and then laughed at how he deflated. She moved over to take sit on the table and, respecting her wishes, Simón sat as well, next to her.

To his credit, he did behave for most of their breakfast. After all, they both hadn’t eaten since the day before, Simón was quite hungry and he imagined that she must have been as well.

That didn’t stop him forever though.

“Simón, I’m gonna spill my tea!” Ámbar exclaimed as she tried to keep the cup steady in her hands while he smothered her cheek with kisses.

“Then put it down,” he replied simply as he continued down her neck.

Ámbar did put her cup down onto the table, but with the other hand, she pushed him back into his chair. She gave him what he guessed was supposed to be a stern look, but it totally failed considering the smile on her face and the sparkle of glee in her eyes. 

“We’re supposed to be finishing so we can go to work.”

The last thing Simón could think about was working though. And could anyone blame him? His girlfriend ( _GIRLFRIEND!_ ) was sitting right at his reach, looking extremely beautiful. Who could resist that?

He put his arms around her waist and brought her closer. Despite her earlier protest, she put up no resistance.

“Can you leave your boss role for one second and kiss me?”   

“I’ve kissed you all morning and you still want more?” She laughed in disbelief.

“ _Of course._ Didn’t I tell you? One of the side effects of being my girlfriend is having to kiss me all,” he gave her a brief kiss, “day,” another peck, “long.” He kissed her again.

She smiled against his mouth before leaning back.  

“Would you look at that, you are a needy one.” She took his necklaces in her hands and started playing with them, something he had noticed she liked to do. “If I had known what I was getting into, maybe I wouldn’t have accepted.”

“Oh, really?” He raised his eyebrows, not being able to erase the big grin from his face.

“Yeah,” she replied and immediately giggled, not being able to keep the serious act.

He had just leaned in to taste her lips once more when a clearing of a throat made him pull away and brought his attention to the entrance of the dining room.

Pedro and Matteo where there and, judging by their faces, maybe they had been there for a while.

“Good morning…” Pedro greeted awkwardly, walking to sit at the table along with Matteo.

“Good morning,” Ámbar said, parting from Simón and sitting straighter on her seat. Simón greeted them as well, allowing his arms to let her go, but not wanting to move away that much, he kept an arm over the back of her chair.

Pedro and Matteo started serving themselves breakfast, looking divided between wanting to throw curious glances at Simón or avoiding their eyes completely from the awkwardness of the situation.

Simón glanced at Ámbar and noticed her cheeks were pink again, probably due to having been caught so cozy. His heart melted in affection and he couldn’t help himself from kissing her blushed cheek.

Ámbar jerked and turned to him with an expression half disapproving, half amused. _Seriously?_ Her eyes seemed to say.

Simón pretended to ignore that and drank his juice nonchalantly. “Sorry. Side effect.”

He didn’t need to look at her to know she had rolled her eyes. He smiled behind his glass.

Suddenly, Ámbar’s phone started ringing. She grabbed the purse she had hanging on the back of her chair and took it out, checking the caller ID.

“Shoot, it’s from the suppliers.” She lifted her gaze from her phone and turned to Simón, speaking quickly. “Side effect of being my boyfriend: Having to deal with the fact that I’m a busy woman.” She excused herself from the table, rising to her feet, and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello, Jam & Roller manager…”

Simón watched her go with a smile as she moved to the living room, continuing the phone conversation. Once again, a clearing of a throat made him turn his attention back to the table.

“I see you two are back to being cheesily in love,” Matteo noted in a tone that Simón couldn’t decide if it was curiosity or apprehension. “Luna told us not to worry about you yesterday, but I couldn’t help but wonder where you were. I gather this is why we didn’t see you at the deposit?”

Simón beamed at them. 

“Ámbar talked to Luna. She apologized to her, and thanks to her Luna forgave me, can you believe it?” He said, totally marveled and full of utter happiness.

Both guys raised their eyebrows.

“Really? That’s great, I’m happy for you, man,” Pedro told him with a smile.

“Wow, she actually did it…” Matteo mused, looking really surprised. “…I guess she really is changing.”

“I told you so,” said Simón, repeating the words that Matteo had told him just a day ago with a smug smile on his face.

The Italian rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “Fine, I deserve that. _I’m still wary_ ,” he clarified, giving his friend a pointed look. “And I honestly think that you should be too. But… I promise to trust your judgment from now on.”

Simón’s smile turned warm. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad things worked out for you two,” Pedro told him. “After so many ups and downs and problems, it’s good to see you happy.”   

Simón’s smile seemed to double his size and his eyes shone with glee. “I honestly didn’t know I could be this thrilled. It’s like a new level of elated! I want to sing, I want to dance, I want to—” 

“Yeah, yeah, we got it. Don’t you have to work?” Prompted Matteo.

Simón tilted his head to one side.

“Aww. Don’t worry, Matteo. You’ll get back together with Luna. Have faith.” Simón stood from his chair and patted his friend on the shoulder on his way to the living room. He only turned long enough to raise his arms and say, “Love is in the air, bro!” before he disappeared in direction to where Ámbar had gone, a big smile on his face.

Now alone, Matteo looked at Pedro.

“Simón in love is a stuck-up asshole,” he said annoyed.  

Pedro shrugged and took a sip from his coffee. “We put up with you when _you_ were a stuck-up asshole. Get used to it.”    

Matteo seemed to decide to ignore that and just stared back at the table.  He stirred his tea with his spoon for some seconds, in silence.

“… Do you really think this thing with Ámbar is going to go well?”

Pedro finished chewing the sandwich in his mouth and swallowed slowly. Finally, he sighed.  

“I hope it does,” he expressed with utter honesty. “Because I don’t know how Simón is going to end up if it doesn’t.”

 

 

************************

 

Luna was walking to school along with her friends just like every morning, engaged in cheerful conversation under the nice sun.

“So, to boost his confidence, I’m making Matteo a music video and I wanted to ask you for your help,” she told them.  

“Of course, Luna! We’d love to.” Chirped up Yam.

“What did you have in mind?” Asked Jim by her side.  

“Well, because of the song’s lyrics I was thinking we should film at night, and I thought it’d be very cool if we used flashlights and different kinds and colors of spotlights to give it a touch,” the girl talked, gesturing enthusiastically with her hands. “I’m still not sure about the location but, I was wondering if you girls could help me with the choreography, clothes and stuff?” Luna asked Jim and Yam.

The girls looked at each other fast and then spun her heads to the brunette with excited smiles. 

“We’re on it!”

“I could help you figure out filming stops,” Nina offered on her other side. “I have many pictures of the areas around, I’m sure we could find good places.”

“Thank you _so_ much to all of you,” Luna smiled, looking at her friends. “I’ll ask the rest of the guys if they’d like to help. I’m sure if we all work together, this will be the best music video in the _history_ of music videos. Matteo is gonna be so happy!” The brunette exclaimed excitedly.

Jim’s smile turned mischievous and her eyes stared at Luna with playful suspicion.  

“Mmm you seem to be very keen on cheering up Matteo…”

Yam immediately joined in.  

“Yeah, I’ve never seen you so hyped before, and that’s saying a lot.”

“Oh, come on, don’t start,” Luna whined, knowing how her friends got. “You know it’s not like that. I just want him to get over this little rough patch that he’s going through and recover his confidence.”

She didn’t like seeing him down, that’s why she had proposed it the night before. Thinking about it, she couldn’t help but recall another part of their conversation, and it left her lips before she could think better of it.

“He asked me about Michel yesterday.”

“What?!” Jim and Yam exclaimed at the same time. They really acted like twins sometimes even though they looked so different. Now they were both looking at her with shiny eyes.

Luna thought she maybe shouldn’t have mentioned it, but it was already too late. And also… well, it just puzzled her.   

“We were rehearsing, and he just asked me completely out of nowhere if I have feelings for Michel,” she retold, thinking of how her heart had picked up speed against her will at the question.

“And what did you tell him?” Nina asked her.

“That he needed to stop trying to interrupt the rehearsal,” Luna said nonchalantly.  

“Okay but, now between us, what do you feel for Michel?” inquired Yam.   

“Nothing. We’re just friends, I don’t have feelings for Michel.”

“Mmm are you sure about that?” Jim teased her. “Because you really get along, don’t you? Whenever I see you with him or we name him, you can’t stop smiling.”

“And you two look like you could be soulmates with all you have in common,” Yam added.

“Now, don’t exaggerate,” Luna laughed. “Yeah, we get along great and I like Michel a lot, but as a _friend_. I think he’s a great guy, I do, but…” She shrugged. “I just don’t see him that way.”

“… Maybe you can’t fall in love with someone else because you still can’t forget about Matteo?” Nina questioned her gently, softly, like she didn’t want to reopen old wounds but felt like Luna needed to hear it.

All the girls stopped their walking. Luna felt the small ache in her chest she felt every time she remembered her story with Matteo. She didn’t know why it hurt exactly; was it because of how things had ended? Because of a low trick played on them? Was it because she still felt guilty for not believing him when he tried to explain? Or was it because she wished things were different? Because she still…?

She gave herself an inner shake. Her feelings were a mess, like hundreds of threads entangled together that she couldn’t set free, couldn’t figure out which one was which, and she didn’t know how to handle any of it.    

_What’s the point of thinking about it? It’s over._

“…You know what I can’t forget?” Luna asked Nina. “That I have the meeting with Felipe Mendevilla today. I’m gonna put an alarm on my phone and everything because this is a _huge_ deal for the team, and I can _not_ be late.”

The brunette took out her phone and typed in it, resuming her walk and considering the conversation over.

The girls looked at each other, knowing she had once again changed the subject, but decided to drop it and kept moving ahead.

 

 

**************************

 

 

Indeed, some hours later, everyone was sitting in the Roller, waiting for news from Luna about Felipe Mendevilla’s proposal.

At first, it was just Simón, who convinced Ámbar to sit next to him and accompany him for a while, and Matteo, who sat some seats away. Soon after that, Jazmín and Delfi arrived. Jazmín once again squealed excitedly when she saw them sitting together, begging for the scoop of Simbar. To be fair, they _were_ sitting quite close, with Simón’s arm over her shoulders and Ámbar’s chair so close that she might as well had been sitting on his lap.

They weren’t planning on hiding they were together, but still the idea of making an interview about it was a little bizarre for Simón. He guessed Ámbar was more used to those things than him. Thankfully though, Delfi managed to control Jazmín claiming that if she got Simbar’s scoop then she was gonna have full coverage rights on Felipe Mendevilla’s proposal when they knew what it was. Jazmín immediately rejected that, claiming that she already had a title for that video and everything: _“Amazing proposal changes Jazmín’s life.”_ It was only after she saw everyone’s stares that she added the rest of them into the title.

Anyway, after that, the conversation focused completely on Luna’s meeting with Felipe. Ramiro joined in, leaning against the back wall of the bar. Pedro took a break and sat next to Delfi, asking if there were any news yet. There was none, so Simón started checking social media, looking for memes to show to Ámbar and make her smile. Sometimes, he kissed her cheek when he succeeded.

Jim and Yam arrived not long after. Ámbar noticed that the blonde deliberately sat as far from her and Simón as possible. They also got curious stares every now and then from the rest. She guessed it made sense, after all, she was an outsider and Luna’s news didn’t even concern her. No one said anything out loud though.  

“Well,” she said after some minutes, “I gotta get back to work.”

Simón dropped his arm as she stood from her chair. She looked at him and pointed at the table where she usually worked on the other side of the cafeteria. “I’ll be over there in case of anything.”

She hardly got to the side of the bar when Simón stood.

“Ámbar, wait! I need something.”

Ámbar turned to him and frowned in confusion as he moved in front of her.  

“What?”

Simón held her face and kissed her lips.

“That.” He smiled. “You can go now.”

Ámbar blinked and then broke into a giggle. She shook her head. “You’re a dork.”

With a playful shove to his chest, she turned around and walked to her table. Simón moved back to his chair and sat again. 

Around him, everyone was looking at him with their eyebrows up to their hairline.

Simón’s smile diminished under the silent observation.  

“What?”

Everyone shared a glance and then just got back to what they were doing. Which was basically looking at their phones waiting for a message from Luna.

Finally, when everyone was getting anxious, Luna herself arrived.

Everyone immediately stood from their seats and went to her, surrounding her and asking her question left and right. Luna told them that the proposal was to make a publicity campaign for a very prestigious brand. Simón felt over the moon after hearing that, it was an amazing opportunity!

Truth be told, he should’ve known by Luna’s face that something was wrong. Maybe, if he hadn’t been so excited, he would’ve noticed the way his friend kept looking at the floor, avoiding everyone’s shiny gazes; how she spoke like she didn’t really want to speak.

Indeed, it was her face that told everyone that she had said no.

“I’m sorry,” she told them with grief. “But the proposal was for me only.”

Simón’s heart fell.

His first reaction was denial. Luna had said that the proposal was for all of them, but she apologized and said that it was a mistake, that she had misunderstood.

Everyone was wearing the same disappointed face. After all, they had all been looking forward to a huge opportunity that would change everything for them, make it all better. But soon their expressions changed, realizing that their friend had chosen them over a good deal for her. Simón almost couldn’t believe she had done it, but if there was one person who would do something like that, it was Luna. It was so very like her.

At the end, it was a bittersweet moment for all. Luna went home and everyone re-took their seats on the cafeteria, the mood way glummer than it had been just minutes before. Everyone was disappointed after all.

“I was so excited about Felipe’s proposal…” Jim sighed.

That was something they could all agree on.

“What are we gonna do now?” Delfi asked.

Simón was wondering the same thing.

“I can’t understand how Felipe was only interested in Luna. And even less that she said no,” Jazmín was saying the moment Benicio and Emilia appeared in the Roller.

They must have heard what Jazmín said because they looked down on them with superior smiles as they walked to stand by the bar. Although, it wasn’t much different from their usual disdainful stares.

Simón wanted to say something, cheer everyone up, but the words simply didn’t come to him.

“Guys, don’t worry.”

Simón lifted his gaze. Ramiro had taken a step forward and now had everyone’s eyes on him. He looked at them with a hesitant smile.

“Sorry, I know it’s probably not my place but, I think as long as you stick together as a team, everything is going to be fine.”

Simón found himself forming a small smile at his reassuring words.

“Thank you, Ramiro,” Pedro expressed, showing that he wasn’t the only one who felt better after listening to him.  

Yam leaned back on her chair with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“I find it funny that _you,_ of all people, are talking about sticking together when it was _you_ who let us all down,” resonated her bitter words.  

Ramiro’s gaze fell to the floor for a second, a shadow of sadness going over his face before he lifted his chin again and looked at Yam with determination in his eyes.

“Yeah, Yam, you’re right. You’re right. But I’ve been thinking about it since then and, I realized that I was wrong.”

He looked at everyone then, going through all of their faces, one by one, showing his regret and the honesty behind his words.

“What I did was a mistake. I should’ve stayed with you guys, with my friends. …Actually, nothing would make me happier than being able to skate with you all once again.”

Simón realized just one second before it happened what Ramiro was about to do.

Indeed, with a small, nervous yet hopeful smile on his face, the boy looked at everyone who used to be his friends and asked:

“What do you say? Do you take me back on the Roller team?”

 

…

..

.

 

 

 


End file.
